Samurai Warriors 4 may see a western release

Tecmo Koei's hack-and-slash game Samurai Warriors 4 may see a western release, the game's producer Hisashi Koinuma revealed on Twitter.

"Yes. Perhaps, next summer," he tweeted, responding to a fan's question asking if the game will be made available to western gamers.

Known as Sengoku Musou 4 in Japan, the latest installation in the series is expected to launch in the country on March 20 for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. All previous numbered titles in the franchise were released to western markets, with the most recent, Samurai Warriors 3, launching late 2010 on the Nintendo Wii in North America.

Samurai Warriors 4 includes more than 50 characters, which consist of new ones along with all warlords featured in past Samurai Warriors games. The story of Samurai Warriors 4 centers on two brothers, both samurais who fought for rival clans. Sanada Yukimura was a samurai for the Toyotomi clan, while his brother Nobuyuki fought for the rival Tokugawa side.

"We've challenged ourselves to all sorts of things in previous titles," producer Hisashi Koinuma told Famitsu. "For this game, it's the tenth anniversary, and our aim is to go back to the core of the series and develop a game that takes the high road with the concept. [That means] a story that really follows Japanese history, exciting characters portrayed in a cool way, and of course that Warriors-style exhilarating action. I feel like the mission given to us is to safeguard all these aspects of the series, something only a maker like Tecmo Koei could do."

Polygon reached out to Tecmo Koei representatives for confirmation and further information.