Ninja Gaiden is back in a big way, with Ninja Gaiden 4 revealed as the mystery fourth game shown at Microsoft’s Xbox Developer Direct 2025. It's due out fall 2025 for Xbox Series X and S, PC via Steam, and PlayStation 5 and is a day one Xbox Game Pass launch title.
Ninja Gaiden 4 is published by Xbox Game Studios and in development at PlatinumGames, creator of Bayonetta and Nier: Automata, with Team Ninja collaborating. Expect a new main playable character, a young ninja prodigy called Yakumo, although previous protagonist Ryu Hayabusa does appear in the story.
It's a direct sequel to Ninja Gaiden 3, but set a significant amount of time since the events of that game in a "gruesomely transformed" Tokyo, Microsoft said.
Meanwhile, Koei Tecmo has shadow-dropped Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, an Unreal Engine 5 remake of the 2008 original, on Xbox Game Pass. For more, here's everything announced during Microsoft's Xbox Developer Direct 2025.
Team Ninja’s infamously challenging Ninja Gaiden series has a long association with Xbox. The developer’s reboot of the action series launched first on Xbox in 2004, propelling master ninja Ryu Hayabusa into the mainstream. Ninja Gaiden Black, considered one of the greatest action games of all time, launched the following year.
Ninja Gaiden 2 came out in 2008 published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Ninja Gaiden 3 followed in 2012 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Since then, fans have had the critically panned spin-off Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, and, more recently, Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, a compilation of Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.
Publisher Koei Tecmo revived interest in Ninja Gaiden with the announcement of Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, a brand-new side-scrolling spin-off due out later this year. But the main event is Ninja Gaiden 4, which finally continues Ryu Hayabusa’s story 13 years after Ninja Gaiden 3 came out.
Ninja Gaiden: The Complete Playlist
Every game in the series, starting with 1988's Ninja Gaiden arcade game.
![Ninja Gaiden [Arcade]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
