In what appears to be a controversy brewing in South Korea, Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced the cancellation of the supposed launch of Rise of the Ronin in the region.
Rise of the Ronin is an open-world game by the same studio that brought the Ninja Gaiden and Nioh franchise to the market, Team Ninja. The game is set in the war-torn 19th-century Japan and features depictions of Japanese political figures at the time.
The exclusive PS5 title was slated for release on March 22, 2024 until recent local reports [1][2] from South Korea suggest the opposite, which publisher Sony eventually confirmed.
There was no official word as to why Sony is backing out from releasing the game in Japan’s neighboring country. However, it was suspected that a certain in-game figure may have something to do with it. In particular, the 19th-century portrayal of Shōin Yoshida, who is regarded as a contentious figure in South Korea.
Considered to have played a pivotal role in the Meiji Restoration that brought back imperial rule in Japan in 1868 through the political activists he cultivated, Yoshida was a staunch advocate of the conquest of Korea. Historically, the island nation of Korea had subsequently fallen to Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945.
