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Author Oji Hiroi has said that he has written the story for a new Sakura Wars sequel, and is more than willing to produce the RPG series' sixth mainline, should such a project become viable.
The 72-year-old series creator made the comments at the "Sega Universe Playground" event, held in Shibuya in August.
As reported by Dengeki Online, Hiroi appeared during a Q&A event titled 'Oji Hiroi takes the stage! Sakura Wars 30th anniversary special talk show'. Dengeki reports that the show was a lighthearted affair, with Hiroi in good spirits as he discussed the series epic music, his pride in the Sakura Wars stage show, and his recent recovery from surgery.
When asked whether he had any sequel ideas in mind, Hiroi responded:
"I'm thinking of a numbered title, '6'. I still have the plot for '6' I wrote back then."
"I don't know if it would work in today's era, and I don't know if I'll ever get around to doing it, but if that time ever comes again, I'll definitely do the job!"
"If I get an offer, I'll definitely do it."
Dengeki reports that these comments were met with enthusiastic applause from the fans in attendance, who are no doubt pining for the return of the highly theatrical, mech-mashing RPG franchise.
Published by IP holder Sega, the last mainline release was the pseudo-reboot Sakura Wars, (known in Japan as New Sakura Wars"), which launched on PS4 in 2020 to decent, but not overwhelming, praise and disappointing sales. This was just a drop in the ocean, however, compared to the disaster that followed.
Later in 2020, Sega released Sakura Kakumei: Hanasaku Otome-tachi (Sakura Revolution: Hanasaki Maidens) on Japanese mobile platforms. The free-to-play gacha title was a catastrophic failure, with Sega pouring a reported ¥3 billion - a staggering $30 million USD - into the game's development and promotion, only to see a return of less than $1 million USD at launch. Despite being touted as the next big step in resurrecting the Sakura Wars franchise, Sega was forced to pull the plug on Sakura Kukumei, shutting down servers a mere six months after release.
And therein lies the problem: Hiroi would clearly love to make a new mainline Sakura Wars game, and fans (including myself) would certainly love to play it. But how do you turn to Sega bosses, reeling from the last release's alleged ¥3 billion loss, and tell them to finance a new sequel in what has become a blackballed franchise?
A niche series, but one that still has much to offer, Sakura Wars is likely to sit in limbo for now. But one day maybe, hopefully, we'll see Sakura and her heroic friends tread the Theatre of War's boards once again.
Can we at least have a remastered collection? As a treat?