14 DAY TRIAL // The upcoming Ninja Gaiden 3 hack and slash title aims at being more accessible, in order to attract more customers and be able to keep them hooked on the title until the end.
Among the classic games franchises from Japan, Ninja Gaiden stands out through its grueling difficulty, which was kept by the developer of the more recent titles in the series, Team Ninja.
As such, only the most dedicated and talented gamers could brag about being able to master the new Ninja Gaiden games.
Now, with Team Ninja seeing massive changes, including the departure of its boss, Tomonobu Itagaki, the development philosophy is seeing a few changes.
According to the new Team Ninja boss, Yosuke Hayashi, the next title from the studio, Ninja Gaiden 3, will reflect this.
"Team Ninja's aim with Ninja Gaiden 3 is twofold: to be the number one 3D action game of the time, and secondly, the main character is Ryu Hayabusa. They're the two things we're focusing on," Hayashi told Eurogamer.
"Then, providing excitement, which is not only from the difficulty. That's just one of the elements. It's more like having excitement from fighting an exciting boss. That is what we needed."
Excitement won't be derived from a grueling difficulty that doesn't allow any mistakes, however.
"With the previous Ninja Gaidens, you were playing and you were excited, but it was more about putting the controller into the TV screen or something," Hayashi said. "That kind of excitement we were focusing on and aiming for. So that's why for you maybe it was too difficult at that time.
"That's one of the elements. We're not focusing on it, but focusing on providing excitement."
This doesn't mean that the next Ninja Gaiden 3 will just have a win button, as Hayashi revealed that it would just allow more people access to its experience.
"It will enable more people to play. More accessible. We don't plan to have Ninja Gaiden 3 only for the really good, skilled people."
As of yet, however, not a lot is known about Ninja Gaiden 3, except that it will be published by Tecmo Koei, and that a possible demo will be shown during the E3 conference this summer.