But series director Fumihiko Yasuda reiterates he would like to one day return to the action series…
www.videogameschronicle.com
Uh
RIP Ryu?
/s
...kind of.
Koei-Tecmo might be cautious and looking at how well those rumored Sigma rereleases (assuming they exist in the first place of course - they were listed on a Hong Kong-based store's site IIRC) do before comitting.
Don't forget the fact that Nioh suffers the same problem as Dynasty Warriors as well. Both use real historical characters and their stories are based upon actual historical events (Yes, William Adams was a real person). They're both in this weird grey zone.
Aside from Dr. Kawashima, there's also Castlevania Dracula indirectly carrying alot of folkloric legacy with him and a Spirit from the GBA Napoleon game (with the game being mentioned directly), I think we can safely assume that the dividing line will be something like this:
Does the historical person or event still have an overwhelming presence in the current political discourse? If so, Nintendo's much more likely to avoid that. Now that is not a clear cut line or anything: again, Napoleon still pops up in current political discourse from time to time because he and those close to him had a massive impact - in the West in particular - and he's very much linked to the French Revolution, the European monarchies' response to that and the seven subsuquent Coalition Wars. It's for that reason why Nintendo will probably take each matter on a case by case basis. There's one category I'd imagine Nintendo would want to avoid: People who are both (relatively) recent and consistently infamous - such as most if not all 20th century dictators.
I've been much more negative on this question in the past, but I've changed stances largely because a lot of the times what was current fades into the background. It takes quite a while at least. To name an example: the stuff that Dynasty Warriors takes place in - the Three Kingdoms era - happened in the 200s (just as the Han Dynasty crumbled and warlords started fighting each other). The principal historical document a lot of people draw on was written down in 280... just as the wars ended with the Jin Dynasty gaining control.
From there the Three Kingdoms events gradually faded into the background and became background history / legend - culminating in Romance of the Three Kingdoms (which Dynasty Warriors draw upon). The Three Kingdoms era was
evidently extremely destructive though (more academical in depth paper
here), and both Romance and DW carry that legacy to a large extent. When it comes to wars - again, it'll be case by case. I'd argue that Nintendo might be open to Dynasty Warriors based on the fact that Romance is popular all over East Asia (incl. Japan), so that and the legends lessens the destructive memory. As well as the hundreds of years that have passed since then.
Or nukes.
SUPER SMASH BROS. ULTIMATE X CIVILIZATION
GHANDI'S WORDS ARE BACKED WITH NUCLEAR WEAPONS
I start to sweat, realizing that in order to get a certain Civ 6 achievement I'd likely have to account for AI Ghandi.
