Nioh 3 Officially Set for PS5 Launch in February 2026

No surprise, Febuary seems to be rammed with AAA games every year. Soon, March and April will fill up too. Once the GTA 6 date is locked in we will see more of those 2026 titles drop dates (Sony and Microsoft included).

It's becoming something of a tradition that February is a stacked month, and this is another one.

@Shepherd_Tallon You still haven't finished Sekiro and Metaphor though. 🤣

That demo was rough.

Honestly that is a good call, also clever to get this side of RE9 too

Never played the demo… but a big fan of the first two games. I have an ever growing backlog of souls-likes but Nioh 3 will have a big asterisk placed next to it!

Nioh 3 is the highlight for me out of that list anyway. I will get Resi Evil but I have to play those games in short doses because I’m a wuss. Even if I get it on launch day it will take me a few months to complete.

Is this a Playstation console exclusive? I thought it was. But I wonder why Sony is so quiet about it if it is? Also no mention of it from this site? Or maybe it just isn’t an exclusive.

If it is, then i wonder why this site doesn’t tend to acknowledge or emphasize titles being exclusive for Playstation. Pure Xbox would be all over that. The most niche title would be broadcasted to be exclusive, they’d even mention it in the article title lol.

You guys dont seem to mention games being exclusive at all. Im wondering if all this bias shaming from some users here is getting to you guys.

This is still a Playstation fan site, right? 😉

Heaps of time to pre order..

@LogicStrikesAgain yus..yus it is a ps site still

@LogicStrikesAgain Sony didn't go all out for this game since they're not ww publisher like Nioh 1 and 2. This time KT do ww publishing and marketing.

I don't know why PushSquare didn't say it's a PS exclusive though. But some users became more obnoxious with their bias shaming.

All depends on the backlog. With Shinobi to finish, Silksong, Still Wakes the Deep and Sui II remaster still on my list to play, I'm not going to get to Ghost of Yotei at release unless it jumps the queue. So that might push Nioh 3 back.

It's a good problem to have!

EDIT oh yeah and Crow Country for Halloween

@LogicStrikesAgain It has a simultaneous PC/PS launch. No mention of Xbox.

@Weez It's weird that Nioh 3 isn't coming to Xbox, considering that Sony hasn't said anything about an exclusivity deal for the game. Since Sony isn't publishing it, there is no good reason for this game to be PS exclusive.

If skipping Xbox is a decision that Koei Tecmo made of its own volition (and not because of any exclusivity deals), then it's even more baffling that they think Fatal Frame 2 remake will sell on Xbox, but not Nioh 3.

@Shepherd_Tallon Haha Yeah I remember you saying you bounced off Metaphor, it was getting tiring a bit for me too with that typical Atlus text. I managed to beat it this year though, when I've been playing from launch day sigh. Woah bravo on Sekiro! I still haven't finished it on my 2nd run after meeting sword saint on my first and my saves getting corrupted.

@Questionable_Duck because Sony probably help them financially into making the game and the first two games are published by Sony so they would have to bring one and two to Xbox they probably don't want to spend the money on that

@Slayer25c It's not like you need to play Nioh 1 to understand what's going on in Nioh 2, or something. They're not story-heavy games.

And skipping the first few installments of a series on Xbox hasn't stopped companies like Capcom and Bandai Namco from putting Monster Hunter Stories 3 and Digimon Story: Time Stranger on Xbox, respectively.

Maybe Sony does have a timed exclusivity deal for Nioh 3, but they haven't really advertised it or something. Who knows.

@Questionable_Duck From looking online, this looks like it was a Team Ninja call, maybe their thought process was most people associate Nioh with PS? Like you said the other two games aren't really connected and the story isn't complex. All in all looks to be a fumble on their end 🤷‍♂️

That tennis sneak 😂. As much as I'd love to get DQ, Yakuza,and RE I'm no where near ready for those installments yet and even if I was Nioh 3 still takes so much more priority. Plus the others will go on heavy discounts especially RE

Backlog aside, I probably won't be done with Trails Beyond the Horizon by then, and tbh Nioh games are the sort of thing I'd wait for the "complete edition" to turn up in a sale — they're solid action games, but with a level of jank, and some absolutely horrendous itemisation — wouldn't be too far off the mark to call them looter-slashers.

@LogicStrikesAgain There's no need to mention a game as exclusive when all the other games have been exclusive 🤷
It's like asking if they dropped another Astro bot asking if it's exclusive!
And moaning about people calling out bias?
Hahaha what a world we live in nowadays when calling out bias is a negative thing to do✌️

@Shepherd_Tallon And now I picked a horrible path fighting Emma and Ishin - feeling almost impossible, my first run path was easier. I don't think From's games ever burn me out tho, they're just so nice to pick up and play anytime.

Nioh 3 is going to be a hit. Both nioh games are incredible Resident evil requiem is the one.word up son

@Questionable_Duck It's not a timed exclusive and Team Ninja previously said Nioh games where never coming to Xbox. I'd say it's highly unlikely.

Maybe they figure the rest of the series being absent will see less adoption, unlike the Fatal Frame franchise which has launched most titles on Xbox?

@Questionable_Duck monster hunter stories 3 has nothing to do with first two games and digimon has nothing to do with those other games nioh is a story driven game u would not know nioh 2 is presequal if u did not play nioh 1

@Weez They didn't say never, they just said it won't come anytime soon. Either way, if they aren't tied down by any exclusivity deals, it's a dumb decision on Koei Tecmo's part. Not to mention these games would also sell very well on Switch 2.

What I'd like to know is did they finally upgrade their engine for this game so it at least looks like a beefed up ps4 game minimum, or are we still looking at ps3 era graphics with this 3rd installment? Team ninja are one of the laziest developers in gaming on this front

@Slayer25c No one plays Nioh for the story, so I don't think that matters lol.

@Ricky-Spanish

Hahaha what a world we live in nowadays when calling out bias is a negative thing to do

Look, i’m not saying we should reason with bias, we all have different biases, thats fine. But im not talking about that. I’m talking more about the nature of fandoms.

This is a Playstation fan site, right? So it’s normal to lean in to that, and that includes talking about exclusives, which Playstation is known for.

And moaning about people calling out bias?

I’m not moaning, i was just making a point. The people coming here and complaining about bias from a Playstation site are the ones that seem to be moaning.

Imagine going to a Mercedes car meetup and telling everyone they need to play nice with BMW. That would be odd, right. The whole point of the community is to celebrate the Mercedes brand , because they’re fans of it. Maybe a bit of weird comparison, but i think you get the point.

Every other console has exclusives, why not talk about Playstation exclusives in the same way. I think thats a reasonable ask for a fan site.

There's no need to mention a game as exclusive when all the other games have been exclusive 🤷
It's like asking if they dropped another Astro bot asking if it's exclusive!

And i don’t think this a good comparison at all. Astro Bot is from a first party studio, so it’s expected tto be exclusive. But Nioh is a third party game. Games can go from being exclusive to multiplat. Just because a thid party game was exclusive doesn’t mean it will always be

@Questionable_Duck Fair point. "Currently, there's not really too much of a possibility of having 'Nioh' on Xbox platforms. " Given that Sony published them outside of Japan, I'm not sure we'll see that change.

As for the story connection, hard to say. People see 3 and assume continuity if not familiar with the franchise. I can see that impacting sales.

@StitchJones not one Nioh game looked like PS3. Do you even know what PS3 graphics look like?

The demo was very promising. My gaming schedule is pretty well filled out until at least February so this should slot in beautifully!

@StitchJones I've played all Team Ninja games on PS3 except Yaiba and not a single one of them has graphics as good as Nioh. I think you need to boot up your PS3 again to refresh your memories.

@JohntheRaptor Ok that was alittle extreme of an example, but its a known thing in gaming that their engines are a gen and half behind, which just irks laziness by the dev. It doesn't have to be a banger in fidelity, but this is ps5 now, there's no excuse for a game that looks like it could run on a ps3pro if there was such a thing

@Questionable_Duck I do and there are other people who do u don't speak for everyone

@StitchJones it not laziness they have never been known to have top graphics only nioh series has top graphics from team ninjas this has been them for years.

Dear friend @graymamba
I platiniumed Nioh 1 and Nioh 2 on PS4, and platiniued both again on pc (Nioh 1 on steam & Nioh 2 on epic)
If the 3. Nioh turns out to be as good as Nioh 2, we are so lucky.
Open world maps with Nioh 2 marriage sounds pretty exciting.
I do not even mind, if the release date gets postponed to Spring of 2026.
You know, why?
Because, it is (always) better to have (any game):
1 - %100 ready to be played
2 - Bug free
3 - Well optimised
4 - As good as Nioh 2
rather than unnecessarly early releaesed, half-baked mess.
So.... Lets roll on to it...

@ozkrmz nice dude, I’ve got the plats for 1 and 2 on ps4 but while I also have the PS5 versions, I haven’t gone back to plat them both again (yet). Great games1

I played through Nioh 2 including all DLC, and through NG+1, and I enjoyed it.
But Im sorry, the demo almost entirely killed my hype for 3.

It was rough to say the least with serious stutters and framerate issues all over the place - I had to turn it off a number of times due to its performance, and Im not even sure I completed the demo because of it.
It also looked visually bad.

Nioh 2 didn't look amazing either, but it ran well.

The demo also had forced difficulty spikes, that I just don't remember being part of Nioh 2.

This game really needed a lot of extra time in development based on that demo, and a late summer 2026 release would have sounded a bit more promising.

The ninja mode seemed cool though.

Getting their releases before GTA VI

@Slayer25c Nioh is not known for top graphics, your reply made no sense. Anyways, I'm not calling them out for not having "top graphics". I understand not every dev is into having a cutting edge graphics engine. But when you are a gen and a half behind in your engine than there is no excuse for that other then laziness.

This and code vein look so dated visually. Jesus.

"Play the game, not the graphics."

Finally the wait is over, hopefully a Beta in november / december as usual to ease the pain of waiting for the full release, My body and soul is ready !!!

Dear friend @Rich33
Yep! Correct!
Nioh 2 looked not only better, but also (somehow) performed better.
By the way, when you turn on HDR, it is total an absolute eye candy on oled panels.
Hopefully, Nioh 3 can be as good as Nioh 2.
Fingers crossed.

@ozkrmz
I hope it can be too, I just think this is way too early - the build I played was no where close to being ready to launch, and smooth performance in a soulslike is key. This may need a good few months of patching after launch.

Dear friend @Rich33
100% I agree with you.

@Rich33 I though there were a few moments of difficulty creep in the Nioh 3 Demo, but then I also smashed the end bosses first try with no difficulty at all which felt odd. Mezuki was a bit annoying as he was not an early game Mezuki like in Nioh 2.

I think the main problem is that its the standard initial build struggles which Nioh has always had, mixed with that being the second zone possibly so slightly harder than expected. Until I reached the town zone the weapon drops / armour swets were also terrible with me being stuck with a low level yellows for ages. As soon as I got more points for the build and found a decent spear the jump was pretty huge and made it much easier.

The only enemy I felt was overly hard was the Bloodedge Demon who was utterly ridiculous and definately over tuned.

@ilyn
I cant remember all the details regarding difficulty, as it really was the performance that put me off the most, but now you come to mention it - gear drops could have been a big part of the difficulty spikes. It just seemed that some enemies were ridiculously OP compared to others - I can't remember anything like this is Nioh 2, which was brutal at times, but normally fair.