NeoWiz, Round 8 Studios, Nough, Team Ninja, and Tecmo Koei, have revealed that there will be a mutual collaboration between their masocore / Soulslike games, Lies of P and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.
Team Ninja posted an announcement on their site. Lies Of P also made this announcement on Twitter:
“#LiesofP X #WoLongFallenDynasty
‘Lies of P’ and ‘Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’ join forces in an unprecedented collaboration!
We will be announcing more details sooooon!
#WoLong #LiesofP”
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is playable on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, and Windows on Steam. Intriguingly, these are all the exact same platforms that Lies of P will be on. That opens up the possibility that the collaboration will work for players that have both games on the same platform.
Having released three months ago, Team Ninja announced that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty had already hit 1 million units sold. The game also set a record for 3.8 million players.
It’s certainly a great sign for the health and popularity of the genre, and possibly hinting at what level of success Lies of P could also aspire to. But mostly, this collaboration seems like it will benefit Lies of P more than Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, since it’s the one coming later this year. Perhaps that’s all perfectly fine with Team Ninja, who just want to support a new colleague in a growing market.
The similarities between these games go beyond being under the same genre. Both take this premise of a historical scenario, and embellish it with fantasy and science fiction elements, for the purposes of making an engaging and enduring video game world. As independent projects, it’s a funny little coincidence, but it does give the games some synergy which makes this collaboration interesting.
As for what the collaboration could actually be, it could be as simple as Pinocchio and Wo Long’s unnamed protagonist trading costumes and weapons. But Team Ninja and Round 8 could also go as far as having these characters fight in each other’s worlds, or even meet each other.
Neowiz and Round 8 recently revealed the results of a focus group discussion for Lies of P, an unusual move for any video game developer. They certainly seem up for unusual ideas with anybody, and that could make this collaboration really interesting when we see it play out.
Lies of P will be released on September 19, 2023, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows on Steam. It will be Day One on Game Pass.