ω-Force Director Tomohiko Sho Talks About Dynasty Warriors: Origins, Musou Games and More
– 4 min read
More than a million copies of Dynasty Warrior: Origins, published by Koei Tecmo and developed by Omega Force, have already been sold. We spoke to ω-Force Director Tomohiko Sho about the success of the Musou games, the relevance of the Western market, and IP collaborations.
At the beginning of the year, Koei Tecmo released Dynasty Warriors: Origins, a million-selling game that was better received than its predecessor, Dynasty Warriors 9. This Musou-style game was developed in-house by Omega Force.
Dynasty Warriors: Origins offers a new take on the classic Three Kingdoms narrative, depicting ancient Chinese history from the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Battle of Chibi. Players must fight and make decisions through the eyes of a nameless hero to restore peace. We spoke to ω-Force director Tomohiko Sho about the success of the Musou games, how relevant the Western market is for them, and which IP collaborations he could envisage.
GamesMarkt: Could you give us a brief overview of Omega Force and explain how the company has developed over the past few years?
Tomohiko Sho: "ω-Force was born about 25 years ago. Our first game was the 3D weapon-based fighting game 'Dynasty Warriors' for PlayStation, and since then we have produced many action games. In the past few years, we have expanded our lineup by taking on challenges other than 'Warriors' games, and our development expertise and technical capabilities have grown even more, and the number of development members continues to increase each year (we can’t say exactly how many, but it’s several hundred)."
GamesMarkt: Omega Force is best known for Dynasty Warriors and its Musou-style games. How important are the Warriors games for Omega Force and Koei Tecmo?
Tomohiko Sho: "We recognize that 'Warriors' is very important to ω-Force and to Koei Tecmo. We have the core 'Dynasty Warriors' series at the center, and this center has the potential to continue to grow and evolve with the times. It is this center that allows us to create a variety of off-shoot games and to take on the challenge of creating new action games that are not 'Warriors' games."
Tomohiko Sho is a Japanese video game director, producer and designer who is best known for his work at Koei Tecmo and the Omega Force development studio. He started out as a designer on Dynasty Warriors 3 in 2002 and has since worked on numerous titles in the Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, and Dragon Quest Heroes series. He is currently a director and producer at Omega Force, an internal Koei Tecmo studio, and has been its head since 2021. He plays a key role in the development and creative direction of many Musou games.
GamesMarkt: How successful is the Dynasty Warriors series in the West? And how important is the Western market for the series, given that almost 70% of user reviews of Dynasty Warriors: Origins on Steam are in Chinese?
Tomohiko Sho: "I believe that the 'Dynasty Warriors' series is not yet in a position to be called a success in the West. On the contrary, I believe that there is a great potential for the series to gain many fans in the future. With our latest title, 'Dynasty Warriors: Origins,' we were able to attract new fans in addition to those we have had since the PlayStation 2 era. The Western market is very important, and I believe that if there is a next title, we will gain even more new fans."
GamesMarkt: Congratulations on selling over a million copies of Dynasty Warriors: Origins. How relevant are releases on PC for you now?
Tomohiko Sho: "Thank you very much! In today's gaming market, we believe that it is important to release games for PC game fans in order to attract new fans. And we have been very conscious of launching on PC since the beginning of development, and we focused a great deal of effort on optimizing 'Dynasty Warriors: Origins' for the PC. As a result, I think we were able to offer something that many PC game fans will enjoy, and I am very happy about that."
GamesMarkt: Why do you think the Warriors/Musou games are so successful? What makes them so fascinating and so successful?
Tomohiko Sho: "That is a very difficult question (laughs). If I were to borrow a phrase from many people, I would say that it is the 'exhilarating 1 vs. 1,000 action.' However, I think it is not that simple, because “Musou” has various characteristics, and any of those characteristics will always match each IP that is the subject of the game. Some allow you to simply enjoy the exhilaration without much thought, some allow you to enjoy a large number of characters with simple controls, and some allow you to enjoy the unique “tactical action” that is inherent to the 'Dynasty Warriors' series. I think this is the appeal of 'Dynasty Warriors' and the reason for its success."
GamesMarkt: Dynasty Warriors 9 featured an open world. With Dynasty Warriors: Origins, the series went back to its roots. Why was this decision made?
Tomohiko Sho: "The reason why we did not adopt an open world for 'Dynasty Warriors: Origins' is not so much that we went back, but rather that we thought that a style of creating individual battlefields, rather than an open world, would be better suited to achieving the gameplay that we were aiming for in this title."
GamesMarkt: With One Piece: Pirate Warriors (Bandai Namco), Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors (Nintendo), and Dragon Quest Heroes (Square Enix), the musou game concept has been applied to major franchises from other companies. Do you see further potential there, perhaps even with Western IPs such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or Marvel?
Tomohiko Sho: "We can't say 'Yes!' on our own, but I personally hope it is possible (laughs). I new 'Lord of the Rings' game that is unique to 'Warriors' ...... I would love to create it, and personally play it."
GamesMarkt: In 2023, Omega Force also published Wild Hearts with EA. How do you look back on that game?
Tomohiko Sho: "'Wild Hearts' was our first collaboration with EA, and I think it was very exciting. This was true both in the days of game production and in the game itself. We have received many enthusiastic comments from the people who have played the game, and I hope to one day deliver the fascinating worldview and game system we created for this title in a new form."
Never miss anything from the German, Swiss and Austrian games industry again: subscribe for free to our Daily newsletter and get all news straight to your inbox.
Written by
