A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
A rumor claims that Sony and Sucker Punch Productions’ recently announced Ghost of Yōtei game will be delayed to at least 2026 after the company changed its vision from a Ghost of Tsushima sequel to Ghost of Yōtei.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
Sony announced Ghost of Yōtei during its most recent PlayStation State of Play at the end of September and revealed the game would release some time in 2025.
Sucker Punch Porductions’ Senior Communications Manager Andrew Goldfarb declared on the PlayStation Blog, “We are forever grateful for the success of Ghost of Tsushima, and we can’t wait for you all to experience Ghost of Yōtei in 2025.”
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
A little over a week since that announcement a new rumor from YouTuber Endymion claims the game will likely be delayed until 2026. He shared, “I was also told do not expect Yōtei in 2025 at all. Apparently, the game’s nowhere near being done, but it’s a very slim chance that this game actually releases in 2025. It could very easily fall into 2026. But if you’re getting your hopes up for it coming out next year, probably don’t do that.”
“Every source that I spoke to say that they full expect a delay at some point to be announced,” he added.
Earlier in his video he shared that Sucker Punch was originally working on a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima and not Yōtei.
He said, “I was told that originally Yōtei was not the original game idea at all. It was actually indeed Ghost of Tsushima 2 starring Jin Sakai. But sometime during development … the game was halted and then completely changed in vision. This Atsu character we see was not originally decided to be the main character of this game.
And apparently, according to my sources, Yōtei’s world and design are largely based on the assets that were being used while making Tsushima 2. Apparently work began on Tsushima 2 around two months after the official sales data came through on the first game’s success.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
Endymion then shared that the reason why Yōtei will get delayed is due to this change in vision, “These changes from Tsushima 2 to Yōtei happened apparently within the last year. So the entire vision of the project has been changed.”
He added, The era of placing the game 300 years into the future from Tsushima’s story was decided because it would be more believable in Sucker Punch’s internal talks for the game to star a woman at that point instead.”
Later in his video Endymion also relayed, “I’m told Yōtei may be small than the original Tsushima because of the development problems behind the scene and the fact that they sidelined Jin Sakai for this new Atsu hero instead. This led to a lot of asset flips and the story changing, but the core idea of Jyn being hunted by Ronin was kept, but, of course, he was replaced by Atsu instead.”
He also shared that Yōtei “is also allegedly being developed as a cross gen game for PS5 and PS4 because Sucker Punch and Sony are worried that the game won’t sell if it isn’t available to a larger install base.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
Finally, Endymion revealed that his sources informed him that the project could be scaled down depending on the public’s reception.
He stated, “As I was also told, if Yōtei’s reception does not improve this could scale the game back in terms of scope and resources. If Sony starts to notice the public opinion on this game is not changing for the better they’ll opt for a smaller overall content package.”
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
Of note, Goldfarb did share on the PlayStation Blog the reason why Sucker Punch chose to abandon Jin Sakai’s story. He stated, “We also wanted to continue to innovate. To create something fresh but familiar, we looked beyond Jin Sakai’s story and the island of Tsushima, and shifted our focus to the idea of the Ghost instead.”
“At Sucker Punch we love origin stories, and we wanted to explore what it could mean to have a new hero wearing a Ghost mask, and uncovering a new legend. This led us to Ghost of Yōtei: a new protagonist, a new story to unfold, and a new region of Japan to explore,” he added.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
On top of Goldfarb’s explanation, Nate Fox, one of the game’s Creative Directors told The New York Times, “When we started working on a sequel, the first question we asked ourselves is ‘What is the DNA of a Ghost game?’ It is about transporting the player to the romance and beauty of feudal Japan.”
The other Creative Director Jason Connell shared that the game’s setting was inspired by a research trip to Japan where they visited Mount Yōtei. He said, “I sat there for two hours just staring at the mountain. It was stunning.”
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
In regards to the rumor regarding the game being cross gen, Goldfarb noted, “This is also Sucker Punch’s first game built from the ground up for PlayStation 5, and we’re excited to build on the visual foundation we established in Ghost of Tsushima by making the world feel even more real.”
“We have massive sightlines that let you look far across the environment, whole new skies featuring twinkling stars and auroras, even more believable movement from wind on grass and vegetation, and more improvements we’ll share in the future. Our new setting also gives us the opportunity to introduce new mechanics, gameplay improvements, and even new weapons,” he wrote.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
What do you make of this rumor from Endymion?
