Ninjala, GungHo’s cute brawler, is still on track for a 2020 release

Spring 2020

I’m pretty intrigued by Ninjala.

Sure it’s from GungHo, one of the current kings of microtransactions; so it might not be the most friendly game in the end. But there’s something about the teaser that dropped earlier this year that really hooked me. There’s a huge brawler void right now and I’m getting distinct Platinum vibes from this with the “ninjas in a cityscape” theme. Anarchy Reigns anyone?

Well it’s still on the way, as GungHo Online has confirmed with publication Nikkei that it’s on track for a spring 2020 release. GungHo president Kazuki Morishita states that it will be “very satisfying to seasoned gamers,” in addition to “people of all ages,” which is one of the widest marketing strategies that 2019 still has to offer before it goes kaput.

Nikkei reminds us that overseas markets are important as they account for 40% of GungHo’s revenue, so hyping it up now as we start to get into the final months makes sense. Morishita says he wants to get that figure to 70%, partly through Ninjala. But while I’m the target market for a brawler, how is GungHo going to keep people playing? Again, we’ll see how invasive the microtransaction scheme is.

[Nikkei]