Longest development period for an action-RPG videogame

First entering the studio as a PS3 project in 2004, Team Ninja's samurai epic Nioh was finally released approximately 13 years later – for the PS4 on 7 February 2017. The game was originally based on an unfinished script by legendary Japanese movie director Akira Kurosawa and was entitled Oni. Despite the lengthy development, the action-RPG title was a hit with critics and its sword-slashing gameplay has been compared to Dark Souls.

As of June 2017, Final Fantasy XV held the development record for a "straight" RPG (approximately 10 years), and is a very different game experience to Nioh, thus the two separate record categories.