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.

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.

168 Comments

  • Great_Ragnarok

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 8:00 pm PT

    @ meharu can u give ur source?
    the only article I found says sigma sold half a million.
    http://ps3.psu.com/Ninja-Gaiden-Sigma-sold-500k-copies--a000971-p0.php
    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!

  • meharu

    Posted Oct 2, 2008 5:04 am PT

    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.

  • Baldur3272

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 1:32 pm PT

    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!

  • slayersdeath200

    Posted Sep 11, 2008 4:08 am PT

    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

  • T070Y

    Posted Sep 10, 2008 5:12 pm PT

    its still hard

  • BVCX

    Posted Sep 2, 2008 6:07 pm PT

    SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWDOooooWWWWNnnnnn game.

  • CamiKitten

    Posted Sep 1, 2008 6:15 pm PT

    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

  • Great_Ragnarok

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 10:33 am PT

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

  • shaifur

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 6:10 am PT

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

  • metabolic_youth

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 6:13 pm PT

    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/175-Ninja-Gaiden-2

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

  • Lord_Regnier

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 3:30 pm PT

    Fantastic game.

  • digitalpro

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 10:53 am PT

    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.

  • drsnobby65

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 10:25 am PT

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

  • jtthegame316

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 5:40 am PT

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

  • obywan

    Posted Aug 30, 2008 2:40 am PT

    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!!!

  • sykalob

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 7:38 pm PT

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

  • Henninger

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 5:43 pm PT

    @ ctg867

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

  • snake289

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 5:41 pm PT

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

  • Jebril

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 4:01 pm PT

    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.

  • okassar

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 2:27 pm PT

    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.

  • buzzguy

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 2:20 pm PT

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

  • darkdraggin

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 1:28 pm PT

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

  • Lightchaos

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 12:32 pm PT

    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!

  • LancerVI

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 11:42 am PT

    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

  • chiquiza

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 11:15 am PT

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

  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 10:54 am PT

    @ 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.

  • ctg867

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 10:52 am PT

    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.

  • Virtual_Erkan

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 10:47 am PT

    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.

  • necronaux

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 10:47 am PT

    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.

  • akiwak

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 10:38 am PT

    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.

  • stereotype14

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 10:24 am PT

    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.

  • darkSIDEechoes

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:31 am PT

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

  • Sacula

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:21 am PT

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

  • Ra-Devil

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:18 am PT

    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?

  • Pipchase

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:16 am PT

    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.

  • mundus

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:11 am PT

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

  • mundus

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:07 am PT

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

  • mundus

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:05 am PT

    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.

  • Rickhavoc2

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 9:02 am PT

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

  • kos1085

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 8:52 am PT

    @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.

  • umbrae

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 8:46 am PT

    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.

  • Loucetios

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 8:45 am PT

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

  • ExtremePhobia

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 8:25 am PT

    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.

  • ZimpanX

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 8:23 am PT

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

  • Kyle722

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 8:20 am PT

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

  • demon565

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 8:02 am PT

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

  • mundus

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 7:59 am PT

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

  • tidyspidey

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 7:52 am PT

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

  • Kenji_Masamune

    Posted Aug 29, 2008 7:31 am PT

    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.

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