Sony Interactive Entertainment has issued a statement to address rumors that PS5 exclusive Rise of the Ronin has been canceled in South Korea. While it’s true that the game won’t be available in South Korea physically or digitally, Sony told IGN that it didn’t plan to release Rise of the Ronin in the country to begin with.
The curious case of PS5 exclusive Rise of the Ronin and the “backlash” in South Korea
Rumors of Rise of the Ronin’s cancellation in Korea came from local websites Daum and Ruliweb, both of which linked the purported cancellation to comments made by Team Ninja game director Fumihiko Yasuda, in which he glorified Japanese scholar Yoshida Shoin — a controversial figure in Korea.
Sony tells IGN that the two things are not linked, and while it didn’t address the controversy surrounding Yasuda’s comments, the company says Rise of the Ronin was never “officially announced” for release in South Korea. IGN states that there’s no evidence that Rise of the Ronin ever had a PlayStation Store page in Korea, but the South Korean PS Blog did mention the game in a now-edited page. Additionally, some Asian versions of Rise of the Ronin support Korean language.
Make of this what you will.
