Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors series, while strong on its own, has also been the perfect pairing with a handful of other franchises. It turns out that beating down hundreds of enemies in the worlds of Zelda, Persona, and many more, is a heck of a lot of fun. Luckily, Koei Tecmo has every intention of continuing to make collaboration games, according to its latest earnings call, and there are a few long-overlooked ideas that should finally get their moment.
During Koei Tecmo’s recent earnings call (as reported by Nintendo Everything), one investor brought up how the company’s collaboration games have slowed in recent years. The response solidified that those titles are going nowhere, saying: “Our policies and resources remain the same and we will continue collaboration. There have been no particular changes in the business environment, including the acquisition of new projects. We do not make any comments or disclosures regarding the collaboration with specific partners or the existence of specific collaboration titles under development.”
Koei Tecmo has seen phenomenal success by collaborating with other publishers, releasing wildly creative spinoffs that blend the core elements of Dynasty Warriors with that of prominent games. The partnership with Nintendo has been particularly fruitful, yielding two Hyrule Warriors games and two Fire Emblem Warriors games. But a host of other collaborations from both video games and anime have also been well received, including Persona 5 Strikers, Dynasty Warriors Gundam, Dragon Quest Heroes, One Piece Pirate Warriors, and Attack on Titan.
It’s a bit astounding that other companies haven’t stumbled on the winning formula Koei Tecmo has, smartly adapting tremendously popular series into new experiences that can stand alongside their main series. But the collaboration games have allowed Koei Tecmo’s partnerships to run even deeper, as the studio has co-developed games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses with Nintendo and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT with Square Enix.
That last game is particularly interesting, as it feels like we should have had a Final Fantasy Warriors game a decade ago. No other series in existence feels as tailor-made for the Dynasty Warriors formula, and the story setup even already exists because of the Dissidia spinoffs.
The Dissidia games transport iconic heroes and villains to a new world locked in an eternal conflict between two eternal gods. This is almost the exact setup of something like Hyrule Warriors or Warriors Orochi, it practically writes itself. What makes a great Warriors game is a highly dynamic lineup of characters that can lean into wildly different combat types and movesets, and again, that’s Final Fantasy to a tee.
There’s also so much fantastic drama and comedy that can be drawn by pitting the series’ iconic characters against each other, so many different worlds to choose from for stages, hundreds of pieces of music to remix and have fun with. I could go on and on about all the ways a Final Fantasy Warriors could be a smash hit but I don’t need to, thinking about it for even five minutes is enough to sell the idea.
While Final Fantasy is a dream, in terms of what else could be in the cards for Koei Tecmo, there are a few that seem obvious. The company’s partnership with Nintendo will undoubtedly continue, and it’s more than likely a new Warriors game is already in development for Nintendo Switch 2. Fire Emblem seems the obvious choice here, as that series has been a more natural adaption to the Warriors formula than anything else. But it’s also possible we could see another Nintendo series get the treatment, the most obvious candidate being Xenoblade Chronicles. Anime collaborations will undoubtedly continue as well, with another One Piece game likely or even a new adaption for a big series like My Hero Academia or Jujutsu Kaisen.
There are nearly limitless possibilities for what Koei Tecmo could do with collaboration games, and the company has a proven track record at this point, which could help in securing deals. What makes the Warriors spinoffs so much fun, however, is when they’re surprising and ambitious. Hopefully, that trend keeps up, and something like Final Fantasy is the perfect way to ensure it does.
