It's been over five years since Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 first released. Developed by CyberConnect2 and published by Bandai Namco, it marked the last Ultimate Ninja Storm game, eventually landing on Switch last year with the Road To Boruto expansion bundled in.
Speaking back in January through CyberConnect2's official YouTube channel, CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama opened up about its challenging development process. Advising they "got behind schedule", Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 exceeded their allocated budget, which "ended up causing trouble" for Bandai Namco.
You can find the full video on YouTube with English captions, and Matsuyama's full thoughts are outlined below:
The development for Storm 3 was also hard. Even though it technically shouldn’t happen after 25 years, every year feels like our biggest battle yet. And as we break our previous records, it isn’t getting easier at all. Every year is hard. So, looking back at Storm 4, there isn’t really much we could have done better. We were able to do everything that had to be done.
That’s the reason why it took so long, why we got behind schedule. It’s also why we exceeded budget and ended up causing trouble to Bandai Namco Entertainment – why we ended up getting the publisher angry and ended up inconveniencing everyone. The result, nevertheless, was still a pretty good game. It would be wrong to say that everything went alright though. Thankfully, many people helped and supported us. We are able to continue to develop games every day.
Considering it was delayed from a Fall 2015 release to February 2016, discovering there were behind-the-scenes problems isn't too surprising. Bandai Namco clearly wasn't happy with CyberConnect2, and Matsuyama's comments make for an interesting insight.
That said, you'd be hard-pressed to argue against how Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 eventually turned out. Reaching 5.8 million sales back in March 2020, it was positively received – we awarded it 8/10 stars on Switch – and it proved a fitting send-off for this Naruto sub-series.
Are you a fan of Ultimate Ninja Storm 4? Surprised to hear about these development troubles? Share your opinions down below.
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 10
Is this why we only get mediocre games based on Shonen Jump material from Bandai Namco now? Beacuse they just want to churn out any old rubbish for less stress / maximum profit? I can count on one thumb how many decent games they've released in recent times. Obviously, I'm aware that they mainly publish and that there are multiple developers out there working for them, but I fear CyberConnect2, who are highly cabaple at making decent games, are probably being pressured into yearly, rushed output by management.
Feels like unrealistic expectations for developers (from all sides) are the biggest threat to the industry
I still gotta finish the first 3. I have the xbone version of 4 though. Good to hear it all worked out.
@sikthvash Sadly I think you are right. It's clear to anyone who played the Ultimate Ninja Storm games that CyberConnect2 cared - felt like a series of games by fans for fans.
Sadly this isn't the case with many of Bandai Namco's releases which feel far more like "least effort possible" licenced cash grabs.
While shallow at times, CyberConnect put a lot of love into those games and actually cared about how they ended Naruto (Unlike the real series im ngl), this really goes to show that that doesnt matter much to Bamco.
Cyber Connect should use their talent on some IPs of their own.
These were incredible games. I'm really thankful for their hard work.
@sikthvash Nah, it mostly revolves around a difference between Eastern and Western development strategies. In the East, they tend to budget accordingly, and they do not like to go over budget. They have a realistic sales goal in mind, and anytime you go over budget that goal has to be raised. Most Japanese titles are not going to sell a great amount in the West, and in the East, the console market is shrinking, so that also impacts the budget. So, they have to play it safe for a lot of their titles. The Eastern developers are also more prone to make smaller budget titles, and throw in a big budget here and there.
In the West, the major developers focus almost exclusively on big budget titles, that have to sell millions, and rarely do they take a chance on new IP (or new IP that isn't generic garbage that mimics established IP). Indie developers are the go to for the smaller and mid level budget titles in the West, but they don't typically have access to established IP.
So, that is why they go with the safe bet in the East (as well as the West).
Road to Burrito was awesome, hopefully Namco doesn't fired them for this especially since the pandemic took a toll on everyone in the workforce industry.
I wonder if they will start making Boruto Ninja Storm games next?
Would be nice to see the Jump DS games in a collection or a remaster of Jump Ultimate Stars.
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