History buffs like to ask ‘what if?’ Question. A completely hypothetical situation to explore how small changes can affect the course of world events. Video games that explore these kinds of questions tend to fall into the grand strategy genre, putting players at the head of a faction with the goal of dominating their enemies either through political manipulation or brute force, and seeing what might happen if some major historical engagement goes the other way.
One developer that has always been at the heart of the grand strategy genre is Kou Shibusawa, a division of Koei Tecma that produces some of the best and most celebrated historical strategy titles, dating back to the original NES. We had the chance to speak with some of the heads of this celebrated studio to discuss their history in the genre and what keeps gamers coming back for more.
What’s in a name?
If Kou Shibusawa’s name sounds familiar, that’s because it casts a long shadow over gaming history.
It was originally a pseudonym for Yoichi Erikawa, the co-founder of Koei back in 1978, who is the current CEO of Koei Tecmo. Over the years, he also produced games under his fake name to separate his role as head of the company from that of a game developer. In 2016, when the decision was made to rename the department dealing with Koei’s historical strategy games, the team took the founder’s pseudonym as its brand.
“Since the early days of series like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Nobunaga’s Ambition, ‘A KOU SHIBUSAWA PRODUCTION’ has been shown at the beginning of the game,” says studio head and Romance of the Three Kingdoms of Hadou
The decision to establish Kou Shibusawa as a separate entity within the Koei Tecmo hierarchy seems to have had an impact on the studio’s focus.
“Everyone on our development staff has become more aware of our intellectual property,” says Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV producer Echigo Kazuhiro. “Before that, console and online/web games were developed separately, so different production processes made it seem like the teams were doing completely different jobs, and the awareness and/or attitude towards IP was distant. But today we all see ourselves as custodians of the IP and we are committed to its further development and expansion.As a result, the process of introducing new characters has become simpler […] It certainly made it easier for us to focus on that.”
Kou Shibusawa – the team, not the man – develops some of the longest-running series in Koei’s catalog. Franchises like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Nobunaga’s Ambition allow players to explore a history not yet set in stone, continuing the eponymous legacy of deep historical strategy games filled with larger-than-life characters.
A long legacy
Koei has been porting PC games for as long as Nintendo has been making home consoles. Nobunaga’s Ambition puts players in the role of a daimyo or the titular Oda Nobunaga during the Warring States period of Japanese history beginning in the 15th century, while Romance of the Three Kingdoms — of which Dynasty warriors franchise is a spin-off — loosely adapting events from the much earlier period of China’s Three Kingdoms.
By the time Kou Shibusawa’s team was branded as such in 2016, both series had more than 25 main games.
Unfortunately, not all of his games achieved great success in the West. Uncharted Waters continues to send players sailing the seas of the 15th and 16th centuries, but has never managed to find an audience outside of Asia, which is odd since it’s one of Kou Shibusawa’s few series that focuses on events in the West.
“The theme of the series […] it was created in Europe, so we’d definitely like to see players in Europe and North America enjoy it as well,” he says Shoji Yuheiproducer Uncharted Waters Originwhich rebooted the series in early 2023. There doesn’t seem to be much opposition to bringing the series to the West — as always, it’s a matter of demand.
Along with these historic titles, the studio has also had unusual collaborations released under its name. Pokémon Conquest was a turn-based strategy RPG crossover between Nobunaga’s Ambition and Pokémon for the DS.
Kou Shibusawa also collaborated with Intelligent Systems on Fire Emblem: Three Houses in 2019. “Because Koei Tecmo had a relationship with them through the development of Fire Emblem Warriors, we were approached by them and Kou Shibusawa, a brand that mainly develops simulation games, was tasked with developing the title,” explains the producer and director of the upcoming Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening, Ryu Michi.
While these collaborative titles may be rare, they have resulted in some very fun, unique games, even when they differ from the rest of the studio.
The devil is in the details
Kou Shibusawa’s games never approach the anachronistic tone of the Civilization series, despite their flexible approach to events written in the annals of history.
One of the key features of every series the studio makes is a laser-like focus on detail. The price of grain, for example, can bring down entire empires if those in charge are not careful. Allow an ambitious entity to gain too much power and you could find yourself with yet another rival to contend with.
All of these features are part of the experience and this is not a studio that shies away from challenging players. “IN Nobunaga’s Ambition: Haouden (released in 1992, Japan only), we adopted a system that more closely reflected the actual historical facts of giving honor, praise, and dominance to officers,” Ryu-san explains when asked which games in the series achieved the best balance between detail management and player accessibility. “This title was enjoyed by many players, even though it was text-based since it was difficult to visualize with the specs of the time. Therefore, some gamers might consider it a die-hard enthusiast’s title. We try again with our latest title Nobunaga’s Ambition: The Awakening.”
“In terms of balance, it’s hard to say which one ‘balanced the best,’ and the answer depends on the criteria you use to judge,” Ryu-san says, citing the critical success of Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence as a potential candidate.
Switch history
Since Koei’s early days, the company has focused on the idea of a flexible history. Games like Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening present an opportunity to explore alternative histories. How might these events unfold with another mastermind guiding them? Will Nobunaga realize his dream of a united Japan? Who will conquer China’s fractured landscape first?
“It is generally believed that history, including the Warring States period in Japan, is something that cannot be changed, but what we know is only part of it,” Ryu-san continues. “Even today, new discoveries and interpretations are made. This is why the more we learn about the Warring States period in Japan where Nobunaga’s ambition unfolds, the more it stimulates our creativity.”
You might expect such matters of state to be presented with a tone of seriousness, but there’s an occasional sense of whimsy in how the team approaches these alternate timelines. Often this involves just removing certain figures from history or tasking players with helping another warlord achieve his goals, but the Japan-only Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence used the Switch’s IR camera to allow players to import their family, friends and pets into game, generating a random warlord depending on the shapes visible to the camera at the bottom of the right Joy-Con.
“We wanted players to enjoy creating officers by downloading [pictures of] their friends, dogs and various other objects around them,” says Ryu-san.
As for the Switch, and given the developers’ experiences with Nintendo’s hardware stretching back to the 80s, we asked how the process of working with the platform’s consoles has changed. “I guess you could say that porting PC titles to Nintendo consoles is still a challenge every time, even now,” Echigoya-san tells us. “We always design everything for PC, so there’s a lot to consider when porting a title. However, I’d say the Nintendo Switch has made the development process easier, compared to the past… [laughs]“
Ryu-san echoes those sentiments. “As creators, we always end up thinking about what we can do when new features are implemented in hardware. The development process for the Nintendo Switch version[s] was both easier and harder. To be honest, we often struggled with how to handle the simultaneous operation of the controller and the touch panel. [laughs]“
Future
The team at Ko Shibusawa have been understandably tight-lipped about their plans for the future, but it’s clear there’s still plenty of life left in the historical strategy genre. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening will feature officers who “think and act independently,” without the need for direct orders all the time, according to Ryu-san, carrying on the spirit of innovation that made the first games so influential in the genre.
Our thanks to Ito Yukinori, Echigo Kazuhiro, Shoji Yuhei and Ryu Michi.
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is coming to Switch on July 20th. Let us know below if you’re a fan of Kou Shibusawa — the studio or the man — and want to see more KS games coming to Switch in the West.
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