Koei Tecmo has not, will not and have taken a stance at all costs to not release Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 in the West. It’s only available in Asia. Regardless of this fact, Western journalists are attacking the game, calling it sexual assault, over the depiction of the virtual women because the VR update for the game will let players fondle the bikini-clad models.

While some sites have expressed excitement and heart-racing anticipation for the VR update for Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 – arriving in time for the launch of the PlayStation VR, which is due out this October for the PS4 – other journalists have become “triggered”.

The term “triggered” has become popularized recently by Social Justice Warriors, relating to content that frightens them or causes great distress and anxiety. That’s precisely what happened with many websites after witnessing a short demo of a Japanese man poking the buttocks of Kasumi and bobbling her breasts like a giddy newborn, flailing in an attempt to fetch hold for milky nourishment.

If you haven’t seen the video, you can view it below.

Various outlets have been reiterating claims along the lines of Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 VR basically being “Sexual Assault: The Game”. In fact, that was literally the headline for Sean Buckley’s piece on Engadget.

Polygon’s Allegra Frank likened it to “creepy” “harassment”, writing…

“[…] it’s the notion of VR as paradise that boggles the mind. The mode appeals directly to that customer who reduces a woman to an object, not a character with personality quirks and interests. The head-tracking device transforms the body into a controller, making the user at once more vulnerable and more powerful. This makes VR a terrifying conceit to me, as the owner of a dangerous body. A woman can be physically intimidated in the view of a VR headset, and her personal space can be actively invaded.”

Frank throws around often buzzwords like “male gaze” and “ownership”, attempting to make gamers feel guilty for being sexually attracted to women based on their physical form.

Metro’s Olivia Waring dropped the game in a bucket labeled “interactive sexual assault”. Waring writes…

“Let’s just say the VR version of Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3 is not designed with female players in mind – rather, horny men who want the full buxom avatar experience.”

CogConnected stated that the game promoted “rape culture”, writing…

“When PlayStation VR hits the market it will be launching with this piece of trash in its library. In a recent video from Gamer.ne.jp it shows an active VR game mode that actually allows the player to ogle and harass female characters. It goes so far as allowing the player to virtually ‘touch’ the characters while they verbally protest and quite frankly, look downright uncomfortable. This isn’t scantily clad characters, that’s hardly worth being in an uproar over. This is violent and aggressive promotion of sexual assault.”

Interestingly enough, it seems to be lost in the media’s invective conversation that in reality, if you’re an American you can’t buy this game from store shelves.

Last year there was such a fuss over feminism, sexism and female portrayal in video games kicked up by the media that Koei Tecmo originally stated they weren’t going to sell the game in the West. The Facebook operator for the Dead or Alive page bluntly revealed back in November of 2015 exactly why Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 wasn’t heading West, writing…

“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.”

Koei just didn’t want to become exasperated dealing with SJWs and third-wave feminist advocates. Therefore, the only way to get your hands on Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 is to import it.

This move made a lot of fans of the series incensed, so much so that open revolt against SJWs became a thing. However, it became so bad that Anime News Network prohibited users from blaming Social Justice Warriors for preventing the game from being sold in the West.

If the revolt of the game wasn’t made apparent by media back at the end of 2015, it’s very apparent now.

Sites like Next Shark and Tech.Mic, along with Polygon, Metro, and even Australia’s News.com have all basically reacted in the exact way that Koei Tecmo expected, attacking the game in ways they were desperately trying to avoid by keeping the game out of America.

Other companies like Bandai Namco have also seen the headlines and have opted not to bring over games like Summer Lesson VR to the West in order to avoid being attacked by the media or SJWs. Idea Factory International also relinquished efforts to bring some titles West when they discovered how much would have to be censored to allow the games to be sold. Thus, the attacks from media, the bombardment from the Social Justice Warriors and the effort to run perpetual damage control is actually causing some developers to avoid releasing their games in America altogether.

Regardless of the protests, Western gamers can still import Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 from shops like Play-Asia, and it will be possible to utilize the VR aspects when the update goes live alongside the launch of the PlayStation VR this October.