Electronic Art’s EA Originals label announced that they have begun production on a new hunting game genre title akin to the Monster Hunter series, having joined forces with Koei Tecmo’s internal developments studio team Omega Force. Set in a “fantasy feudal Japan” world, the game will deliver a “AAA Experience” and more details will be revealed in the upcoming weeks.
The announcement came with a single image snippet of what appears to be concept art for the game in development, depicting a feudal-era Japanese castle overrun by a cherry blossom-like tree.
▍EA Originals Label Partnership with Koei Tecmo Studio’s Omega Force
As a split division of Koei Tecmo Games founded in 1996, Omega Force is most famous for its role as the main developer behind the Dynasty Warriors Series, pioneering the hack-and-slash genre. The developers have previously worked on spin-off titles for other IPs, often colloquially called the Musou-genre, having worked on series such as Attack on Titan, Fire Emblem, Mobile Suit Gundam, and One Piece among a few.
The EA Originals label was first shown off in 2016 when they kicked things off with the title Unravel, where they worked with Coldwood Interactive to put out the game as a publisher to the game. Since then, the label program has published games such as Fe, A Way Out, It Takes Two, and Knockout City all of which were all indie titles respectively uprooted by the financial and marketing backings of the company.
Jeff Gamon, general manager of the company chimed in, “Building on the incredible success with the recent releases of It Takes Two and Knockout City, we’re thrilled to be partnering with the amazingly talented Omega Force team. They’ve elevated the hunting genre to the next level, merging their proven talent for combat gameplay with unexpected and innovative mechanics. We can’t wait to introduce their groundbreaking new adventure to the world later this month.”
The announcement has also quoted the Omega Force team going in on their co-developmental process saying: “Our team fully embraces our creative independence and have become invaluable partners offering both development and publishing support,” said Koei Tecmo executive VP Yosuke Hayashi. “Adding the global resources of EA with our own will help us introduce a new kind of hunting game to a global audience of players and expand our reach into global markets. I’m really looking forward to the day that gamers from around the world can play this new game.”
No other clear details were mentioned in their announcements, with the team promising that questions will be answered in due time later in September, where they will divulge details about their upcoming new foray into the hunting game genre. Though not stated directly, this could possibly mean a showing at the Tokyo Game Show coming later this week, so stay tuned for more information, as Koei Tecmo will be present with their own Koei Tecmo Live! in Tokyo Game Show 2022 live stream on September 17. Be sure to check it out!