It has just been claimed that Rise of the Ronin, the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive, will not be released in South Korea next month when the game launches globally. This is reportedly due to controversial comments made by the game’s director at Team Ninja, Fumihiko Yasuda. Owing to political animosity between South Korea and Japan, these inflammatory comments have pushed Sony Interactive Entertainment to block Rise of the Ronin from launching in South Korea.
Cancelled by Controversy
In a behind-the-scenes ‘making of’ video, Fumihiko Yasuda reportedly ‘glorified’ a Japanese scholar – Yoshida Shōin – and compared him to Socrates. This is controversial because Shōin promoted a theory that spoke of Japan conquering Korean lands to strengthen its position in the region, otherwise known as the ‘Jeonghan Theory’.
This has drawn backlash from the Korean gaming community, prompting SIE Korea to seemingly block the launch of the game in the country. It is no longer possible to pre-purchase Rise of the Ronin on South Korean accounts on the PS Store.
In an article published on v.daum.net, one Korean gamer was quoted as saying:
Sony Korea made a good decision, I won’t even look at Team Ninja games in the future.
PlayStation is yet to clarify the validity of this claim – we’ve reached out for comment.
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