- The 2025 Xbox Developer_Direct took place this morning, focusing on four upcoming games.
- To start things off, we learned that Ninja Gaiden 4 is coming in Fall 2025.
- After announcing the new Ninja Gaiden sequel, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black shadow dropped.
On January 23rd, Microsoft kicked off its first gaming showcase of the year with the new Xbox Developer_Direct.
These shows typically offer a deep dive into existing titles, but have also had some fun surprises of their own to tout along the way as well. This year's will feature DOOM: The Dark Ages, which takes us back into the Doom Slayer's medieval past, Southern gothic action game South of Midnight, and finally, "AAA"-styled old school turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. And finally, we now know the fourth game.
Starting the showcase off, Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo (along with PlatinumGames) are back with an all-new mainline Ninja Gaiden — Ninja Gaiden 4.
Ninja Gaiden is a franchise that shares some history with Xbox, with the big 2004 reboot launching direct onto the original console. The franchise was also credited with boosting the hack n' slash genre, and generated various sequels and spin offs in its wake. Indeed, only last year, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound was announced, in partnership with the side-scrolling aficionados who built the amazing Blasphemous. Microsoft also worked with Koei Tecmo to bring a variety of classic Ninja Gaiden titles to Xbox backward compatibility, with the main trilogy remastered and available now on Xbox Cloud Gaming and Xbox Game Pass, too.
Ninja Gaiden follows Ryu Hayabusa of the Dragon Clan, which pits the famed ninja against various supernatural and demonic threats. Ninja Gaiden is known for its brutally difficult gameplay and high skill ceiling, and has been cited as an inspiration on a variety of other games.
This exciting new game is releasing in Fall 2025. It will be available on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, and PS5. You can wishlist the game today.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black shadow dropped
In addition to the Ninja Gaiden 4 announcement, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black also shadow-dropped today. You can play this remake on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox App for Windows PC, and it's also on Xbox Game Pass.
