Nioh 3 sells 1 million in two weeks as Team Ninja sets franchise record despite PC optimization concerns
Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja’s latest entry in the souls-like hack-and-slash franchise, Nioh 3, has hit a major milestone within two weeks of launch. Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo officially announced that Nioh 3 has sold over 1 million copies in two weeks, making it the fastest-selling game in the franchise’s history.
Team Ninja’s complex samurai-and-ninja mashup RPG has pushed the Nioh franchise past 10 million lifetime sales across all platforms, making it a pivotal moment for the Japanese studio.
While the game is heavily baked with intricate mechanics, attributes, buffs, and classes to curate, fans have welcomed the evolving and challenging nature of Nioh 3. Many gamers believe that Nioh 3 has been the fruitful culmination of Team Ninja’s video game development endeavor over the years.
From the get-go, Nioh 3 launched on 6 February 2026 with 70,000 concurrent players on Steam, peaking at around 88,000 on 8 February. However, the game’s Steam metrics saw a dip to 50,000 players, which could be attributed to the punishing gameplay and overwhelming customization, levelling system, and skill trees Nioh 3 throws at players after a few hours.
To put things into perspective, Nioh 2 released on 5 February 2021, just five years earlier, and achieved an all-time peak of 41,000 concurrent players, while the original Nioh peaked at around 10,000 concurrent players on Steam.
Critics and gamers have received the game fairly, with Nioh 3 earning a Metascore of 86/100 out of 97 based on critic reviews and a generally favorable 8.1 based on user ratings. The game has been praised for its dual-combat system and commended for carving out its own niche.
On the other end of the spectrum, Nioh 3 isn’t without its rough edges. Team Ninja’s video games on PC have always been marred by optimization hurdles, and Nioh 3 is no exception to this trend.
For a AAA video game released in 2026, Nioh 3 barely hits the mark for visual fidelity, feeling quite dated. Furthermore, the game’s lackluster fidelity is marred by subpar CPU and GPU optimization, owing to Team Ninja’s Katana engine.
Still, these performance woes haven’t staggered Team Ninja or Nioh 3’s enduring momentum, as the game offers an addictive loop that requires players to master different stances, explore feudal Japan, and face off against some of the toughest yokai enemies to date.
Add as a preferred