GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links.

Ninja Gaiden II skewers 1M

Tecmo and Microsoft's blood-drenched Xbox 360 exclusive hits platinum milestone in two-and-a-half months; roughly 40 percent of sales in US.

164 Comments

When Ninja Gaiden II launched in North America on June 3, it looked like the culmination of another successful Microsoft-Tecmo collaboration. However, the game hadn't even made it onto store shelves before the game's director, Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki, dramatically resigned. Things got uglier from there, with Itagaki suing Tecmo for $1.4 million, the publisher's share price sliding, and more employees reportedly filing a class-action lawsuit. Last week, company president Yoshimi Yasuda abruptly stepped down, citing unspecified "personal reasons."

Today--for a change--Tecmo received a splash of upbeat news. In a brief press release, Microsoft announced that Ninja Gaiden II has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. According to the publisher, sales figures for the Xbox 360-exclusive action adventure were for all territories worldwide. In the US, industry-research firm the NPD Group reports that the game has sold more than 412,000 copies in the US as of July 31, generating nearly $25 million.

Though not as critically praised as 2004's Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden II's detailed visuals and unrepentant ultraviolence earned it solid reviews. The game is a prequel of sorts and is set before the original NES and arcade Gaiden games, chronicling the early adventures of series hero Ryu Hayabusa. For more details on Ninja Gaiden II, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Join the conversation
There are 164 comments about this story
164 Comments  RefreshSorted By 
GameSpot has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to toxic conduct in comments. Any abusive, racist, sexist, threatening, bullying, vulgar, and otherwise objectionable behavior will result in moderation and/or account termination. Please keep your discussion civil.

Avatar image for Great_Ragnarok
Great_Ragnarok

3069

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

@ meharu can u give ur source? the only article I found says sigma sold half a million. << LINK REMOVED >> I think tecmo would have done much better if the game came out on the PC. currently DMC4 is enjoying as the best action game on PC. tecmo should give them competition!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for deactivated-5f027f1888ad2
deactivated-5f027f1888ad2

571

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 13

User Lists: 1

Of course Ninja Gaiden 2 is a great game, and i am sure that if they release it on the PS3 it will sell very well too, Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PS3 also sold over one million copies worldwide.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Baldur3272
Baldur3272

26

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Here is a brief decription of this game: Blood, gore, heads flying, legs, arms, fingers, flying scapulas, half of faces, and not to mention nuts. Yes my friends there is nuts flying...just joking!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for slayersdeath200
slayersdeath200

429

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 17

User Lists: 0

It is an awesome game the visuals are amazing its a shame to non 360 owners they will miss out on an excellent game. yes it is hard but it is very satisfying with flying body parts :D

Upvote • 
Avatar image for T070Y
T070Y

194

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 5

User Lists: 0

its still hard

Upvote • 
Avatar image for BVCX
BVCX

176

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWDOooooWWWWNnnnnn game.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for CamiKitten
CamiKitten

1230

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 16

User Lists: 0

They did incredibly well with NG2, but the difficulty is rediculous. But alas since I don't own an Xbox 360, I'll have to settle for Sigma :(

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Great_Ragnarok
Great_Ragnarok

3069

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

I'm not surprised tbh. NG2 has one awesome fighting system! well done tecmo :)

Upvote • 
Avatar image for shaifur
shaifur

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

Well said digitalpro. Ninja Gaiden 2 is an awesome game, but why the hell is it soooooooooooooooooo hard? lol.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for metabolic_youth
metabolic_youth

268

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

<< LINK REMOVED >> Ninja Gaiden for the Xbox was a good game marred by overzealous difficulty, but Ninja Gaiden 2 is just a pretty, poorly made, dissapointment.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Lord_Regnier
Lord_Regnier

1283

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Fantastic game.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for digitalpro
digitalpro

169

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Why are people comparing NG2 and MGS4. First, two different type of games. Two, MGS series is more known then NG series. Before NG on the Xbox, the games were back on the NES. So, to the older gamers they know about both games. The younger games that started playing games in the PS era, they don't know the history of NG. But who cares who sold more. It great that both games are doing selling well. For me I would pick NG2 over MGS4 cause I never cared for the whole MGS series. Now before anyone go crazy, I can like any game I want. I don't need to hear how MGS is a far better game then NG will ever be. I don't care. I buy my games not you. So I can like and play what ever I want.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for drsnobby65
drsnobby65

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

We all must remember,the environment @ tecmo wasn,t exactly freindly.so the game was not at it,s full potential.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for jtthegame316
jtthegame316

1009

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

Upvote • 
Avatar image for jtthegame316
jtthegame316

1009

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

It is a great game if you don't have it already why not?

Upvote • 
Avatar image for obywan
obywan

94

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

congrats to the developers. Now if they would release a patch to fix that damn system crash that happens in front of the last boss!!!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for sykalob
sykalob

319

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 0

IT'S A KILLER GAME MAN ...VISUALLY THE BEST IN THE SERIES

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Henninger
Henninger

1675

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@ ctg867 U said tecmo is exaggerating when it was microsoft who reported this not tecmo. Learn how 2 read.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for snake289
snake289

2436

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

NG II was good I hope they fix the glitches and stuff the patches added soon.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Jebril
Jebril

1085

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

Ninja Gaiden II was such a step down in terms of difficulty from the first one, other than that everything else was a major improvement, I guess that's why it sold so well.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for okassar
okassar

2392

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Ya,in my opinion,Ninja Gaiden 2 was great,and that's why it hit platnium,because people got the word that the game was better than the ratings it was getting.I just LOVE all the violence in the game,and the fact that it takes skill to quickly and efficiently slice through your opponents.And might I point out that Gamespot put the word "Skewer" in the title of this article,LOL.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for buzzguy
buzzguy

1602

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Wow, those are impressive numbers! I didn't think the game was as popular as it appears to be. Way to go, MS/Tecmo!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for darkdraggin
darkdraggin

105

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

So this means 1,000,000 people are ticked off about their game/system freezing up...sheesh.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for *Lightchaos-206931739271909150
*Lightchaos-206931739271909150

1692

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Nice! Ninja Gaiden II was a blast to play! I still have to finish the game on mentor and the path of a ninja. Congrats to Tecmo!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for LancerVI
LancerVI

529

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

These games have always been brutally hard and they frustrate the hell out of me, but I keep coming back for more. I love these games. Lancer VI

Upvote • 
Avatar image for chiquiza
chiquiza

60

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Sweet! Ninja Gaiden II is such a fun and great game. Very hard but I have a blast when I play it.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for ctg867
ctg867

1427

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

@ FirstDiscovery Hey look, I found the guy who was gonna flip and tell me I'm wrong. Anyway, I never said sales are everything, don't put words in my mouth. I'm just comparing the sales to too large releases. Both games had marketing (there were TV spots and ads for both), the "hype" you're talking about is merely fan hype and internet buzz, not marketing hype. The slight increase in MGS4 marketing doesn't justify such a huge gap in sales between the games. And have you played either game? Both games have easy modes which means you can just button mash (Ninja Gaiden) or run and gun (Metal Gear), through the game, while both games also have expert modes which require you to memorize combos and have quick reflexes (Ninja Gaiden) or be extremely stealthy and know advanced CQC (Metal Gear). The "Ninja Gaiden is a hardcore game" thin is complete crap. Don't use that as a crutch. These are shipped numbers? Then why does it clearly say sold in this news article? VG Chartz is never on point with NPD which is much more accurate, but they are almost always close. There's more then a 300k unit discrepancy between Temco's numbers and VG Chartz. That usually means something is up. And for the record, if Beethoven was alive today and sold more then a million copies of an album in less then three weeks in just the US, and it took Mozart two and a half months to do that worldwide, I'd hardly say Mozart has the right be named as a juggernaut in the same way Beethoven would be. Your analogy is moot.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for ctg867
ctg867

1427

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

So Ninja Gaiden sells one million copies worldwide in two and a half months. And combined with it's 80GB bundle, MGS4 sold more then a million copies in less then three weeks in the US alone. In comparison, I don't find that impressive. I liked Ninja Gaiden, but I loved Metal Gear, and I'm not alone in my opinion. Let's just leave it at that and let you go look up the sales yourself. Though as a side note, VG Chartz has NG2's worldwide sales under 700k, so I have a feeling that Temco's exaggerating for good press, but I could be wrong. The US sales are about right (400-500k), but the worldwide sales have a pretty big gap.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Virtual_Erkan
Virtual_Erkan

998

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 53

User Lists: 0

I thought the game won't exceed 500,000 because of the bad reviews. 1 million in 2.5 months and against rival games such as MGS4 and GTAIV.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for necronaux
necronaux

954

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 14

User Lists: 0

Now, with more than a mil copies sold, I'm sure they'll file even more lawsuits. And with it selling this quickly, I'm sure there will be a NG3, most likely with a movie to follow.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for akiwak
akiwak

1246

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 0

It's a good game with some problems. Hopefully we get a third game that gets all the wrinkles iron out before it somes out. Things to do for part3: 1. Fix the camera 2. Fix the freezing issues 3. Don't make patches that hurt the game.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for stereotype14
stereotype14

43

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Ninja Gaiden II wasn't a game that would of sold 1 million quickly anyway. I feel that the difficulty is keeping people away from it. I'm sure some from those million buyers have had trouble with it.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for darkSIDEechoes
darkSIDEechoes

3375

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Umbrae...that sucks. Buy NEW games. Not crap Gamestop used.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for coolasice24
coolasice24

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

This is proof that people actually buy the games because of their name these days

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Ra-Devil
Ra-Devil

1512

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 0

I hate game politics. People always think they have a bit of information that will prove to you they are right in some way... even though they are giving bad examples... like remember how Final Fantasy was on Nintendo consoles, and now it's on Sony consoles mostly, that goes to show that Ninja Gaiden II could come out for the PS3 as well... M$ is the current owner of the IP Ninja Gaiden II, any contract or deals they have with Tecmo will hold firm untill this changes. As in, if Tecmo happens to fall out, Tecmo makes a deal otherwise afterward, causing another lawsuit I'm sure, or if M$ sold the rights to use the game to Sony's gaming division. It's not as simple as "In 10 years," because most likely M$ has made a specific kind of deal, and we will never know the details untill waaay down the road, nor is it as simple as "Well NG3 could come out on the PS3," because again, we don't know the details of the deal. For all we know, the deal was for all following Ninja Gaiden games to come out exclusively on the M$ consoles for 'period of time' before all rights to game are available to other publishers. I'm sick of these stupid arguments. Why do I even come here anymore?

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Pipchase
Pipchase

42

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 0

Wasn't all that. Camera was horrible. Yea the fighting engine is fun but when the view is so bad who cares. Plus story and graphics were very last gen. Rent this one and beat it before you buy.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for mundus
mundus

453

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Its called Gears, everybody thinks you are talking about God of War, which barely haven't sold that well yet.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for mundus
mundus

453

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Everybody with freezing issues, should clear your cache. Its a bug with the newest patch and Tecmo dont seem to care about fixing it.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for mundus
mundus

453

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Well i guess it there is a chance of it coming out as a remake sometime. However Ninja Gaiden 2 is published my Microsoft so it probably will be exclusive for quite some time. Banjo Kazooie is a Rare franchise and Microsoft owns Rare, also the game is almost 10 years old so whatever deal Rare might have had with Nintendo is long gone now.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Rickhavoc2
Rickhavoc2

144

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

1million GOW did 3million in 10weeks thats more impressive

Upvote • 
Avatar image for kos1085
kos1085

913

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

@mundus "Its still Microsoft thats publisher for NG2, so no wont come for PS3, NG3 might though" There are ways around this otherwise Banjo Kazooie would not be hitting xboxlive arcade in November. It may come out late like ninja gaiden Sigma but there is still a chance it will come to the PS3. Just some thoughts. Don't really care since I own both the xbox360 and PS3.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for umbrae
umbrae

701

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 0

Too bad the game hangs in the exact same part during a cutscene so I cannot finish it. The gameplay and graphics are there, but hard to call a game good when it lets you get half way and not any further.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Loucetios
Loucetios

1693

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

and 360 Fanboys were trying to knock down MGS4 3m in a month when NG2 took about 2 months to get 1m lol

Upvote • 
Avatar image for ExtremePhobia
ExtremePhobia

349

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 17

User Lists: 0

played the demo, wasn't too hot for it. Maybe I'll play some Ninja Gaiden: Black and get hooked again... then I'll have to buy it.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for ZimpanX
ZimpanX

12636

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 21

User Lists: 0

Just noticed they have released a patch that actually let's you beat it again..yay!

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Kyle722
Kyle722

25

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

I played this game and didn't think it was anything special.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for demon565
demon565

5167

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 3

User Lists: 0

Kos1085 you dont want this glitchy and cheap game trust me.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for mundus
mundus

453

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Its still Microsoft thats publisher for NG2, so no wont come for PS3, NG3 might though.

Upvote • 
Avatar image for tidyspidey
tidyspidey

630

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

woohoo! great game - they deserve the sales figures. let's hope it ensures a Ninja Gaiden III sooner rather than later

Upvote • 
Avatar image for Kenji_Masamune
Kenji_Masamune

1012

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

woah.. SE taking up Tecmo? All the asian companies should unite! Imagine the jrpgs if Atlus, SE, Namco and Tecmo were to band together. I've aways thought about SE absorbing atlus, but tecmo would be good too.

Upvote •