[UPDATE 2]

Koei Tecmo has issued an official statement regarding the entire debacle.

Here’s their statement

The comments recently made by an employee regarding Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 on the official Dead or Alive Facebook page only reflect that individual’s opinion and not the opinion or business strategy of Koei Tecmo Games. We remain focused on delivering the best in fighting entertainment to our fans around the world, while consciously respecting and strategizing to support the different global audiences the Dead or Alive franchise lends itself to. Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 remains in development and is still planned for release in Japan and Asia only.

[UPDATE 1]

We’ve learned that the Koei Tecmo Europe official Twitter account has addressed the community manager’s original statements on Facebook.

“Kudos to the [Team Ninja’s community manager] for being honest. But if you really want it, you can import [the English] ver.”

They even linked to the game’s Asian version listing, over on Play-Asia.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

Previously, we’ve been reporting on Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 with the hope that Koei Tecmo would eventually announce a western localization for the game – the publisher even teased the possibility if fans demanded it enough.

Now, we’re hearing a different story, if the community manager for the company is anything to go by. As spotted by some of our fans, the developer was seen responding to a fan inquiring for the game’s western release, over on their official Facebook.

“We do not bring DOAX3 to the west and won’t have any plan change in the future. Thank you for asking,” said Koei Tecmo, when asked if the game would be coming west.

The developer continued with a very troubling and foreboding message, as if our greatest fears are literally coming true regarding moral outrage and games being censored or abandoned:

“Do you know many issues happening in video game industry with regard to how to treat female in video game industry? We do not want to talk those things here. But certainly we have gone through in last year or two to come to our decision. Thank you.”

This is a stark contrast to what we’ve seen Koei Tecmo do previously, i.e. put out flagrantly violent and or sexualized games with little to no comment on how the outrage police in the west perceive said games.

I’ve reached out to Koei Tecmo’s PR in the hopes of getting some clarification, and I’ll update this article should I receive any.