Dead or Alive 6 will be toned down compared to Dead or Alive 5: Last Round and Dead or Alive Xtreme, according to director and producer Yohei Shimbori. He explained to French outlet Gameblog.fr in a piece that was published on February 8th, 2019, that the team is being guided by a “moral” principle and therefore they’re reducing the sexiness in the game. This is also the reason why he says that Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet won’t be releasing in Europe or America.

In the interview, Shimbori is asked about why the game will be less sexy than Dead or Alive Xtreme 5: Last Round, and Shimbori responded by saying…

“To be honest, we did a bit too much with some costumes in the past. And this no longer corresponds to the time in which we live. What you saw today [ he shows one of Christie’s suits, biker, the screenshot of the preview ] is the farthest we’ll go in terms of sexualization. And it’s still very sexy!”

The biker suit they’re referring to is the one below.

According to Shimbori, the outfits won’t get much more sexy than that.

I don’t know how true that is given that he shared images with Twinfiniteof Christie in a dominatrix outfit from Dead or Alive 6 back in late January, and told fans that they would have to enjoy the fan-service quietly.

So either this means that there will be some outfits tucked away in the game possibly as DLC, or it’s all just a ruse?

To be honest, I can no longer figure out what Shimbori is doing because he tried telling SJW journalists what they wanted to hear about Dead or Alive 6 being toned down, but then as they kept pestering him about it he later told them that they should focus on more aspects of the gamelay than the sexualization of the female characters.

Yet here, with Gameblog.fr, he’s back to saying that the game will be toned down. He was asked both if the game was being toned down due to Sony’s censorship regulations or due to the e-sports tournaments, and Shimbori said no to both, telling them…

“No. As I told you, it is a real desire on our part to stick to the social criteria to respect to be accepted at present. And unfortunately, too sexy games are no longer accepted today. “[…] Again, no, it was not our concern. We were just guided by a certain moral sense”

So does that mean that Dead or Alive 6 really is toned down?

Shimbori has repeatedly said that he’s been “misunderstood”, but the message for Dead or Alive 6 has been confused and inconsistent since it was announced last summer.

What we do know for sure is that Dead or Alive 6 won’t be featuring the tag team mode, as Shimbori says the current gen consoles can’t handle it, and we also know that it will feature fewer costumes, characters, and content than Dead or Alive 5: Last Round. Some fans are wondering exactly what they’re paying for if the fan-service is being toned down and the content is more limited than the last outing? It’s a fair observation to be sure.

Anyway, you can look for Dead or Alive 6 to launch on the Xbox One, PS4, and PC on March 1st, 2019.

(Thanks for the news tip Richard Pell)