Kou Shibusawa, the founder of Koei and the veteran general producer who has led the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, announced on the Tokyo Game Show 2026 stage that Romance of the Three Kingdoms 15 will definitely be made.

Koei Tecmo Games held a special stage event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series on September 19 at its booth during Tokyo Game Show 2026 currently taking place at Makuhari Messe. General Producer Kou Shibusawa, along with key developers who have spearheaded past titles in the franchise, took to the stage to look back on the rich history of the series.

Back when the original game was in development, the staff numbered around 30, and a tiny team juggled it alongside other projects, meaning it took a full four years to complete the sequel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2. As the company eventually hired more people and expanded its workforce, the development intervals began to shrink. When crafting the battle maps for Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2, a request came in to make 41 separate map fragments look like one massive continuous landmass, which sparked the clever idea of seamlessly connecting the map edges with mountain ranges and rivers.

With each successive installment, bold new experiments were introduced. Released in 2000, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 7 broke away from traditional ruler-centric gameplay to introduce the officer playstyle for the first time, while Romance of the Three Kingdoms 9 in 2003 introduced a seamless single map encompassing the entire continent without region boundaries.

Released in 2020, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14 combined a territory-painting mechanic with a single-map structure, capturing both the thrill of securing supply lines leading to active frontlines and expanding borders. Meanwhile, in Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14 with Power Up Kit Complete Edition released this September, even more meticulous details were added to the character portraits, such as bulging veins on Zhuge Liang's hand caused by exhaustion.

General Producer Kou Shibusawa grabbed everyone's attention by appearing at this stage event dressed in Zhuge Liang's traditional attire and holding a feather fan. Towards the end of the event, the general producer explicitly stated regarding Romance of the Three Kingdoms 15, "We will definitely make it." The general producer added that while development will be entrusted to younger junior creators, strict supervision will be enforced to evolve the project into an even more phenomenal game.