In a bid to bolster its most effective development teams, publisher Koei Tecmo is in the process of reshuffling its studios.
It's a move that's currently making headlines, because at a glance, it suggests that Team Ninja is being split apart and reassigned.
While the overhaul will see an entire division of Team Ninja be transferred to a different part of the company, don't get the wrong idea — this isn't the same team that just released Nioh 3 to glowing reviews.
Instead, we're talking about Team Ninja's Division 1, a studio that's basically been spearheading Koei Tecmo's live service push, through titles like Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme.
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To be clear, Team Ninja's Division 2 is the studio behind Nioh, Ninja Gaiden, and the main Dead or Alive series.
On that side of things, there will be a bit of a reshuffle based on upcoming projects — like the brand new Dead or Alive game — but contrary to knee-jerk reactions, the aforementioned properties aren't being impacted directly.
So where's Division 1 being transferred to, exactly? Well, interestingly, it's going to be reworked as a new division of Gust — the developer of the Atelier franchise.
And this does make some degree of sense, seeing as Division 1 had previously helped out with the development of Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator (what a name!), which is an ongoing live service take on the RPG series.
In summary, then, Koei Tecmo's going through some changes — but they shouldn't really concern fans of its biggest Team Ninja franchises.