Interview: Game director Motoki Kaneda discusses 'Ninjala 2: The Uncharted Planet'

After gaining a plethora of fans with its game and anime series, Ninjala will return with Ninjala 2: The Uncharted Planet. Releasing on the Nintendo Switch 2 in spring 2027, the new game ditches the battle royale system for an open-world adventure. We had a chance to speak with Ninjala 2 game director Motoki Kaneda during Anime Expo about the upcoming game.

MP3s and NPCs: With Ninjala 2, the game has shifted from a battle royale to a co-op game. What was the inspiration behind the change?

Motoki Kaneda: The Ninjala series is very deep and has a lot of different aspects to it. There are a lot of characters, and there are also actually a lot of different media. There's manga. There's anime. It's quite a diverse set, a diverse IP, which we think is a real strength. And so, as a result, when we went to do Ninjala 2, we wanted to really explore that world and dive in even deeper. So that's why I decided to go with PvE.

Also, for Ninjala 1, there are people who enjoyed the story mode playing alone, for example, maybe streamers. People already liked the solo play aspect, so we wanted to give more of that. There were quite a few fans who mentioned they wanted to do PvE. They wanted to do co-op play, so we wanted to also provide them with that option. So that's why we shifted towards this.

MP3s and NPCs: Ninjala 2 is set to be split into two chapters. Would the second part be like a free update or would it be like a DLC-type thing?

Kaneda: I'm thinking that the second part will be like a large-scale DLC. We're also looking into options for free updates once Part 1 launches, so there definitely will still be developments there and then also some sort of DLC version for later ones. So definitely keep an eye out for updates on that front.

MP3s and NPCs: Ninjala 2 introduces four new characters. What was development like for these characters?

Kaneda: Ninjala 2 is set a few years after Ninjala 1, so our goal with introducing new characters was to expand upon the universe, essentially, provide new options for players. The demo that you played today actually features a lot of new characters, so we're very excited for fans to try that out and experience all these new characters.

MP3s and NPCs: Will fans see returning characters from the first Ninjala game?

Kaneda: All of the Ninjala 1 characters are also present in Ninjala 2.

MP3s and NPCs: Something unique for Ninjala is the anime series. Will there be new episodes that come out alongside the new game?

Kaneda: The anime will continue to be created. The story will continue to be the anime, and as that story is continued, we're thinking of ways to connect it to the new Ninjala 2 story. So definitely something also to keep an eye out for, how those kind of come together and intersect.

MP3s and NPCs: While Ninjala 2 is coming out, would the first Ninjala game still be available for people to play since those are two different gaming styles?

Kaneda: We recently actually hit 12 million downloads, so obviously there are quite a few people still enjoying the PvP aspects and then just the original game all around, and that's very important for us. We take that very seriously, and so we definitely want to keep all of those users in mind as we move forward with Ninjala 2 as well. So we'll definitely be trying to accommodate the current player base.

MP3s and NPCs: Will there be like a possible crossover between both games?

Kaneda: Unfortunately, due to them being separate systems, there's some hardware issues where we can't do like a direct crossover so much. But yeah, they're more like separate games at this time.

More information about Ninjala 2: The Uncharted Planet can be found here.