Koei Tecmo Reached Immense Success with Game Pass

Following up with our previous Koei Tecmo business write-up allows us to look beyond opening Japan physical sales and Steam performance from the official database now that we have some current figures from KT themselves. Things are looking up for the company in many ways, but there have been some financial upsets to go along with their latest business report. This write-up also touches base with the latest game release dates for upcoming titles as well as updates to their current games for the 2023 year.

Team NINJA announced that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty has shipped more than 1,000,000 copies across all platforms with 3,800,000 players in total for Wo Long. That ratio should give you a solid idea of how important of a role Game Pass for Windows & XBOX played with the success of the new game.

Comparing it to another big recent title within the company Nioh 2 was able to exceed over 2,000,000 units overtime dealing with Sony's timed-exclusive commitment check. With Wo Long, it's clear that Game Pass added an insane amount of interest that eclipsed Nioh 2, Microsoft's attractive flexibility paycheck included while not hampering overall sales due to the titles short existence in the market and digital storefront.


This business strategy applied to Wo Long has been Koei Tecmo's best in a long time, if not ever in their history as a publisher. There is no doubt that Koei Tecmo will look into more XBOX & Game Pass deals in the future to not only bolster their appearance in the gaming market, but to expand in profitability as a third-party publisher. Dead or Alive 5 & Dead or Alive 6 are Free-to-Play games and have been successful following this plan, but adding the (unannounced) full Dead or Alive 7 game to game pass while also leaving open a FTP model could bring a new level of business and eyes to DOA that the series has never seen before in its 25 years of existence.

While Wo Long has hit about 30 million in revenue, Koei Tecmo also aimed high for Atelier Ryza 3 which is expected to make around 15 million in revenue. Just recently KT reported that the game has shipped 300,000 units across Playstation, Steam & Nintendo Switch. This is the highest rated and bestselling title in the franchise over 20 years later.

Koei Tecmo's Fatal Frame remaster sold roughly 120,000 copies worldwide which isn't really a number to brag about, but it's not damaging to the series either as it was a remaster with reused assets and little marketing applied. Koei Tecmo's horse racing title Winning Post 10 wasn't far off from that number selling 70,000 units worldwide.

Wild Hearts is the last remaining mystery for quartley sales since KT has yet to reveal the numbers for the game which could be due to a big trial they launched, and a one hour Game Pass trial that could have manipulated the actual player number. KT claims that they are pleased with the result of Wild Hearts despite side-stepping the sales number for now.

Moving forward Koei Tecmo will no doubt be looking to Game Pass in the future for extended revenue and interest from gamers all over the world. Though most of Koei Tecmo's announced titles for the rest of the year are skipping XBOX, for reasons they will likely regret with their newfound success in Game Pass through Wo Long, and probably a quarterly mistake KT will not make again.

Not everything is sunshine and daises as Koei Tecmo Holdings CO. was forced to write-off 30 million dollars of Credit Suisse Group AG's most dangerous bonds after they became completely worthless in value following the bank's near-death downfall. Koei Tecmo was unable to sell the bonds before the collapse, so the value became a complete write-off and loss to the company.

Team NINJA has still not announced any new titles, but if you follow the financial report KT states that Rise of the Ronin is still scheduled for its 2024 release. Team NINJA has also not released information for the first of three DLCs for Wo Long but is expected to soon. Team NINJA has steadily improved Wo Long overall with three huge updates to the game (now at Version 1.07).


While some may be getting tired of updates for Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation (Amy is now on the Island Steam players) & Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty; you would have to imagine that Team NINJA is ready to tackle business ventures from a new perspective following their recent success with Game Pass that involve the DOA 3D-fighting game and NINJA Gaiden.
 
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Adding the (unannounced) full Dead or Alive 7 game to game pass while also leaving open a FTP model could bring a new level of business and eyes to DOA..
I'd certainly think so. Problem is all the nay-saying dipshits who think that Game Pass is a plague on any game associated. And with Crossfire X being exclusive to Xbox, NOT on PC AND shutting down in less than a month (confirmed by the devs at Smilegate), Ponies and their lapdogs, will be like "Oh, look. Game Pass has a game that isn't making money because it's on Xbox." (which they'd say about Hi-Fi Rush, as well).

...most of Koei Tecmo's announced titles for the rest of the year are skipping XBOX for reasons they will likely regret with their newfound success in Game Pass through Wo Long, and probably a quarterly mistake KT will not make again.
I don't wanna be a dick on this issue, but aren't Japan just gonna kick Xbox to the curb to keep Nintendo's stock high? And if they do choose to expand, will they be taking control of OUR stock market or will we be controlling theirs? Cuz, and don't shoot me on this, I'm fearing a bunch of retards on Youtube will cry foreign intervention and start a bunch of witch hunts in Sony's name.
 
I'd certainly think so. Problem is all the nay-saying dipshits who think that Game Pass is a plague on any game associated. And with Crossfire X being exclusive to Xbox, NOT on PC AND shutting down in less than a month (confirmed by the devs at Smilegate), Ponies and their lapdogs, will be like "Oh, look. Game Pass has a game that isn't making money because it's on Xbox." (which they'd say about Hi-Fi Rush, as well).


I don't wanna be a dick on this issue, but aren't Japan just gonna kick Xbox to the curb to keep Nintendo's stock high? And if they do choose to expand, will they be taking control of OUR stock market or will we be controlling theirs? Cuz, and don't shoot me on this, I'm fearing a bunch of retards on Youtube will cry foreign intervention and start a bunch of witch hunts in Sony's name.

I don’t think so. Japan approved of the ABK merger the same day it was given the option to. Just because there are insane fanboys out there doesn’t mean Microsoft will cease to do business, infact this last quarter was Microsoft’s best in the console business and Series X is tracking ahead of 360. Nintendo is also in accordance with Microsoft as Microsoft planned to bring the Call of Duty franchise back to Nintendo.

There are some fanboys out there that are bad for anyone’s business, but most Playstation players are people that just want to game and are unaware of Sony’s evil business practices; especially since the totalitarian reign of Jim Ryan started. As proven by news this week the CMA is a much bigger issue than Japan. As proven by the subpoena Microsoft issued Sony - there is a huge double standard in the industry where it is okay for Sony to hurt other companies, but not the other way around.


If I get the time, I'll write an article that step by step shows how Nioh would have made more money off of Game Pass than the deal Sony gave them to keep it exclusive, and how a third-party gaming company in Japan is put on a leash by accepting one of Sony's investment deals.

Once again Wo Long's 3.8 million in players in less than two months completely trumps Nioh 2's lifetime already.
 
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Japan approved of the ABK merger the same day it was given the option to. Just because there are insane fanboys out there doesn’t mean Microsoft will cease to do business, infact this last quarter was Microsoft’s best in the console business and Series X is tracking ahead of 360. If I get the time, I'll write an article that step by step shows how Nioh would have made more money off of Game Pass than the deal Sony gave them to keep it exclusive, and how a third-party gaming company in Japan is put on a leash by accepting one of Sony's investment deals.
Woah, whoa, whoa. I understand the commitment, but you can't just storm into their legal offices or their Twitter feeds.

I mean, I have gotten some positive feedback, but what if "most Playstation players" really did buy an Xbox or were convinced to do it?
 
There are some fanboys out there that are bad for anyone’s business, but most Playstation players are people that just want to game and are unaware of Sony’s evil business practices; especially since the totalitarian reign of Jim Ryan started. As proven by news this week, the CMA is a much bigger issue than Japan.
Aren't PlayStation fans gonna be rubbed the wrong way with this sort of thinking? I'd rather ask WHY they feel so compelled to have Bloodborne and FF7R on the platform instead of getting mad because I can't and won't play it on Xbox.

For example: "What aspect of X touched your heart the way it did to do Y?"

And Ryan isn't so much evil as he is silly.
 
Woah, whoa, whoa. I understand the commitment, but you can't just storm into their legal offices or their Twitter feeds.

I mean, I have gotten some positive feedback, but what if "most Playstation players" really did buy an Xbox or were convinced to do it?

I mean Team NINJA themselves retweeted this story and I don't need to storm into any legal office to have access to KT's financial reports and game sales. You can also see Sony's investments to Team NINJA through business reports. Plus, Phil Spencer has been largely transparent about the flexibility of Game Pass.


Aren't PlayStation fans gonna be rubbed the wrong way with this sort of thinking? I'd rather ask WHY they feel so compelled to have Bloodborne and FF7R on the platform instead of getting mad because I can't and won't play it on Xbox.

For example: "What aspect of X touched your heart the way it did to do Y?"

And Ryan isn't so much evil as he is silly.

No, I don't think PlayStation fans are going to be rubbed the wrong way. I defend most of them that are just in it for the sake of playing games and don't follow the industry news as closely as I do. Also, (before I forget) please refrain from using the word "retard" on this forum to define people. Other than that, thank you for commenting on the front page news.

I don't find anything that Jim Ryan is doing to be "silly" more than completely damaging and anti-competitive.
 
No, I don't think PlayStation fans are going to be rubbed the wrong way.
OK, good. I'll keep my worries to a minimum, from here on out. However, it's not really PS players that just wanna play whatever they find and/or are interest in and think very little of it.

Team NINJA themselves retweeted this story.
Congrats, dude. Sorry if I came across as a bit anxious.

Please refrain from using the r-word on this forum to define people.
Copy all. Consider me at ease. (I DO admit I was painting with too broad a brush in the situation, and I do apologize.)
 
OK, good. I'll keep my worries to a minimum, from here on out. However, it's not really PS players that just wanna play whatever they find and/or are interest in and think very little of it.


Congrats, dude. Sorry if I came across as a bit anxious.


Copy all. Consider me at ease. (I DO admit I was painting with too broad a brush in the situation, and I do apologize.)

Don't worry about it! You're not saying anything wrong by giving your takes. It's a touchy topic, but eventually everything will come to light through this FTC lawsuit and everyone's dirt will be unearthed if this goes to trial as expected.
 
Jim Ryan has been a significant downpoint to Sony ever since he took charge of Playstation, I can only think about the time he appealed against MS buying ABK by listing off the kind of thing MS could do if the deal goes through and almost every one of them was thing that Sony themselves do. He also does not understand the appeal of older games and is probably the main reason why BC is so atrocious on PS5. (PS4 games either don't work or are buggy, PS2 Classics are utterly broken with no plans to fix them and PS1 emulation being so bare bones that its a literal waste of money) the new PS Plus in general is significantly worse than game pass and the premium tier is utterly useless.

As to stay on topic however, Wo Long being on Game Pass was an absolute win for everyone. I hope this means KT will work with Xbox more in the coming years with their multiplatform releases. Assuming Sony just doesn't pay for exclusivity or block game pass.

EDIT: I just realised this makes me sound like a total Xbox fanboy lmao. I have both the PS5 and Series X and there's pros and cons to both but Xbox is definitely more consumer friendly in general though, I just wish they'd start releasing some of the games they announced 3 years ago.
 
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