Today Dengeki Online published a rather extensive interview with Dead or Alive 6 Producer Yohei Shimbori, who addressed the current state of the game.

First of all, Shimbori-san mentioned that there has been a mixed reception from the fans, with positive and negative voices.

Having worked for fifteen years on the franchise, he initially felt confident about covering the role of both Producer and Director. While this allowed him to help progress development smoothly in some way, it also mitigated the scrutiny on some decisions, because the double duty meant that they were focused all on one person.

He tried to work on the game while listening to the feedback of the users by conducting beta tests, but not everything was done right and he regrets that.

As a consequence, after release, he stepped down from the role of Director and handed it to a reliable staff member, and he’ll be just the Producer of the game. This enables the team to more efficiently perceive the feedback from the users and the split leadership makes it easier to find issues that weren’t noticeable before.

Other developers and members of the marketing staff have also been encouraged to reach out more actively to Shimbori-san himself and to the new Director if they have an opinion. Team Ninja is working hard to clear the current issues and make Dead or Alive 6 a better game.

About the original issues with earning costumes (that have since been mitigated), the idea came from the fact that playing repeatedly matches against various people would help players master the game. However, Shimbori-san admits that the initial setting for the amount of repetition was completely incorrect. With the changes that have been made, the number of matches required to get costumes for your favorite characters should have settled on a reasonable range.

For the future, the team is planning further changes so that it’s easier to get the costumes you like.

Shimbori-san also explains that initially, they thought that the base costumes should have been earned only through gameplay. Yet, they received more requests that they thought about being able to just purchase them as an option, so they might reconsider their initial stance.

More paid costumes will continue to come since they’ve been popular since Dead or Alive 5. On the other hand, the in-game currency used in the game to purchase costumes and accessories will keep accumulating, and at some point, players won’t have any more use for it. The team is currently considering what kind of costumes they could add for that, and whether they could add completely new uses for the coins.

While they have not confirmed that a second Season Pass will come, Shimbori-san admits that it’s not much of a secret, since the first is labeled “1.” There are plans for more Season Passes, and they will add characters that Team Ninja fans are waiting for.

We also learn that Shimbori-san wanted to release the free Core Fighters version of the game as the same time as the paid version, but it wasn’t possible due to a delay in development. That being said, he wanted to launch it as soon as possible afterward, in order to let beginners face off against each other on a level playing field.

Due to development issues, Team Ninja didn’t know when they could release the free version until shortly before they did. They had mentioned before that it would come, but since it wasn’t clarified on the official site, many weren’t aware of it, and that’s something they regret.

In order to reward those who purchased the full game, developers are currently considering implementing bonuses depending on the number of characters you have unlocked. For example, the sum of your character levels might generate a proportional bonus to the coins you earn. This would reward players who purchased the full game, those who pre-ordered the game or got the Deluxe Edition (as they had Nyotengu and Phase 4 earlier), and those who play a lot.

The free Core Fighters version was downloaded over 500,000 times in March, and the number of downloads is still increasing, with a rate of growth similar to Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. That being said, Shimbori-san would like to implement measures to help both the free and the paid version flourish.

Speaking about the recently-added Lobby Matches, the implementation of a text chat feature has been postponed because releasing the main feature was the priority in order to let people play with friends as soon as possible. That being said, the addition of text chat is planned for future updates. It’ll be text-based, and not emote-based. The ability to give your room a name is also being worked on.

For future updates, the team is planning to keep listening to player feedback while correcting inconvenient elements and tweaking the performance of characters. The most urgent thing to do is to address feedback about side attacks being too convenient. While there are pros and cons, there have been many comments about them, so the team is examining their balance.

Shimbori-san concluded the interview by thanking the fans for playing the game. There have been times where the players’ wishes and the team’s goals have diverged and communication may not have been sufficient, causing concern for the fans. Developers are open to feedback from the player base, and it’ll be used to grow in order to make the game more fun. Team Ninja plans to continue to support the game for a long time, including the delivery of updates and competitions.

If you want to learn more about Dead or Alive 6, you can read our review of the game and check out our semi-recent interview with Director Yohei Shimbori.

We recently got a new DLC pack with more wedding costumes, and you can also take a look at the previously-released Happy Wedding Volume 1 DLC, which is part of the first season pass.

The Dead or Alive 6 World Championship is also coming soon if you’re interested in eSports.

Dead or Alive 6 is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.