Rise of the Ronin is off to a rough start on PC as it becomes Team Ninja’s worst-performing major Steam launch in years

If you’re among the millions of players currently enjoying Monster Hunter Wilds, or the many others holding out hope that Assassin’s Creed Shadows won’t be a disappointment, there’s one other major March release that likely fell off your radar.

That, of course, being the PC launch of Rise of the Ronin, the once-PS5 exclusive game from Nioh and Ninja Gaiden maker Team Ninja. The game arrived Tuesday on Steam with what could only be described as a thud.

Rise of the Ronin is finally on PC, some one year after its initial release on PS5. As Team Ninja’s next big game, and the follow-up to the exceptional Nioh series, there was a lot riding on it kicking off a new franchise for publisher Koei Tecmo.

Unfortunately, the game disappointed many of those who come to Team Ninja’s game for a very specific experience, and failed to capture the more casual audience because of just how predictable and samey the experience it offers is, compared to its contemporaries. If you were hoping the PC launch would revive interest in the game, and perhaps allow it to make a better impression, you’re sadly going to be disappointed.

Rise of the Ronin has peaked at a meagre 12,105 players on Steam following its launch (via SteamDB), a far cry from the figures recent major releases from Team Ninja, such as Nioh 2, and Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty managed to pull. This is particularly strange coming on the heels of Dynasty Warriors: Origins, which was a big hit for KT, peaking at a very respectable 69,483 concurrent players when it launched in January.

The player reception to Rise of the Ronin isn’t much better, either, with just under 1,000 user reviews on Steam, and an overall rating of Mixed. Alongside the usual cavalcade of complaints about performance, many players don’t like how, well, Assassin’s Creed-y it feels.

Granted, there’s still room for things to improve throughout the week and maybe even get a boost over the weekend. We’ve certainly seen games start slow and garner more players as word of mouth spreads, but those games usually start off with much higher numbers.

It’s hard to have high hopes, however, given that Ronin’s release is sandwiched between titans like Monster Hunter, and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows – another game also covering a similar era in Japan, and offering similar gameplay.