Famitsu recently interviewed Koei Tecmo CEO Hisashi Koinuma about his first full year leading the company and his plans for its future. In the interview, Koinuma made it clear that his long-term vision for Koei Tecmo is continued expansion. Unlike many game developers and publishers, Koei Tecmo has seen substantial increase in its workforce, recently surpassing 3,000 employees — the interview reveals that it hired 193 new graduates domestically this year alone, and has grown its workforce by roughly 20% over the past two years. This increase in the workforce coincides with Koei Tecmo’s goal of becoming a 5,000-employee business, a goal Koinuma says the company remains committed to despite widespread layoffs across the games industry. Koinuma also emphasized that this is a long-term objective rather than a target with a fixed deadline.
Of course, the goal of this expansion is not simply to have more people working in Koei Tecmo locations. Rather, Koinuma has confirmed that the larger workforce is meant to streamline the development process. With more developers, Koinuma argues, Koei Tecmo will be able to support more simultaneous projects, shorten gaps between releases, reduces internal competition for staff, and strengthen multiple development teams at once. Ultimately, the hiring strategy is intended to expand the company’s long-term development capacity. To further push towards the 5,000 employee mark, Koinuma took the time to explain in the interview his belief that simply hiring more developers is not enough. He confirms that the company also wants to train young developers, develop future project leaders, strengthen internal education, and build sustainable development teams over time. The strategy therefore rests on two pillars: aggressive recruitment and long-term talent development.
Koinuma also expressed a desire to establish new development brands like Team Ninja, Omega Force, and AAA Studio. According to Koinuma, new internal brands would give developers greater freedom to experiment without conflicting with Koei Tecmo’s established identities. New brands would not only affect internal development, but also Koei Tecmo’s self-publishing endeavors, which Koinuma also discussed. According to him, Koei Tecmo intends to increasingly self-publish its games worldwide whenever practical. Citing Nioh 3 as an example, increased self-publishing would offer the company several advantages: simultaneous worldwide releases, coordinated PC and console releases, greater control over marketing, and greater distribution control. Koinuma never stated that Koei Tecmo would be abandoning publishing partners, but that it would start building the internal capability to handle global releases independently.
Koinuma also confirmed that Koei Tecmo remains heavily invested in AAA development. Rather than shifting resources toward smaller-scale or mobile projects, Koinuma has emphasized that he wants larger productions, stronger internal development capacity, continued investment in experienced teams, and the cultivation of the company’s future leaders. Although Koinuma has only recently assumed the role of CEO, the interview presents an ambitious long-term vision for Koei Tecmo’s future.