EA has announced that they are partnering with Koei Tecmo, and specifically, their studio Omega Force, to develop a brand new IP. Rumors had swirled about this collaboration for the last fortnight, but now it’s official with the word being that the developers of the beloved Dynasty Warriors franchise will be working on “the next great hunting game” based in a fantasy feudal Japan. More details are to be revealed later in the month (presumably at Tokyo Game Show).
Yosuke Hayashi, the executive VP at Koei Tecmo spoke about the partnership with EA saying, “It’s an honor to be partnering with EA Originals and to have the support of a team with such an incredible track record of releasing groundbreaking new games. The EA team fully embraces our creative independence and have become invaluable partners offering both development and publishing support.”
Hayashi continued, discussing what the resources of EA mean for the project, “Adding the global resources of EA with our own will help us introduce a new kind of hunting game to a global audience of players and expand our reach into global markets. I’m really looking forward to the day that gamers from around the world can play this new game.”
Meanwhile, the perspective from EA Partners GM Jeff Gamon was, “Building on the incredible success of EA Originals, which includes the recent releases of It Takes Two and Knockout City, we’re thrilled to be partnering with the amazingly talented Omega Force team. They’ve elevated the hunting genre to the next level, merging their proven talent for combat gameplay with unexpected and innovative mechanics. We can’t wait to introduce their groundbreaking new adventure to the world later this month.”
To describe the game as a part of the ‘Hunting genre’ is certainly interesting, and could be reflective of a temporary change in direction for Omega Force. The studio has long been known for its series of hack & slash action games where players slice their way through thousands of opponents on their way to completing their primary objective. This formula has long been cemented as an effective one and has led to other collaborations with the likes of Nintendo, on Hyrule Warriors, and Fire Emblem Warriors, the most recent game being Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes. The studio has also collaborated with Square-Enix on Dragon Quest Heroes, and its sequel, Persona 5 Strikers with Atlus, as well as One Piece: Pirate Warriors, and much more. Of course, this new game may not be of the traditional model, perhaps a title of the ‘hunting genre’ means a Monster Hunter style of experience, perhaps it’s more in line with a Cabela Big Game Hunter type game as well. At this point, the game is very open-ended in its nature given the description provided, so it will be interesting to see what this game is when the month expires. Perhaps it will feature at tomorrow’s PlayStation State of Play?
