[Final update 1/13/2019:] Shimbori gave permission to include his tweets in an article that finally explains his position on the matter and how he states that what some players want and what some creatives wanted to include in Dead or Alive 6 wasn’t entirely possible due to certain restrictions. He also clarified that he did not believe the GNN article mistranslated his words.

[Update 9:07 PM 1/12/2019:] Producer Yohei Shimbori responded to an inquiry where he stated that his words were being misrepresented. When it was asked if the clothing damage for the characters was being reduced and no longer as prominent as it was in Dead or Alive 5 in order to appeal to female gamers, Shimbori said that that was not the case. However, he also stated that he couldn’t go into the specifics.

In response to the question about the clothing damage being reduced on accord of female gamers, Shimbori stated…

“Not at all, that is a misunderstanding. I’m sorry and regret to say that I can’t speak in detail about it, but at this point, all I can really say on the matter is that is not the case.”

This still doesn’t really explain why the clothing damage has been reduced, as evident in the comparison videos and screenshots to Dead or Alive 5: Last Round. I also asked Shimbori if the mistranslation was due to what was published on GNN or not, but he didn’t respond.

If, however, the clothing damage was not reduced to appeal to female gamers, was it then due to Sony’s censorship policies?

For now, there’s only speculation, but we do know that the clothing damage has been scaled back compared to previous outings of Dead or Alive.

[Update 1/12/2019:] Producer Yohei Shimbori has stated on Twitter that he doesn’t know if it’s a mistranslation or misunderstanding, but that he didn’t say what’s being reported that he said in the news articles. He doesn’t seem to indicate which articles or regarding what topical matter.

Shimbori’s tweet states…

“I should point out, I did not say what was written in the news article… However, I don’t know if it’s a mistranslation or misunderstanding. [His next phrase: “もう 言った (or いった) こと に なる の だろ う な”appears to indicate him questioning what he’s already said] “Being misrepresented is dreadful. I don’t know a foreign language so I can’t immediately fix it on the spot… hmm. “This is especially sensitive… honestly troubled.”

He doesn’t elaborate on what was mistranslated or misunderstood, nor does he go into the details of which news article he’s talking about exactly, since there are many. It’s also difficult to understand if he means what was translated from Japanese to Taiwanese in the GNN interview, or what was translate from Taiwanese to English in the Western news articles, since he says he doesn’t know a “foreign language”.

However, there doesn’t appear to be any mistranslation about the lack of clothing damage, which people have reported as being rather limited based on their time with the PS4 beta build. Screenshots have emerged from the beta showcasing that the only major clothing damage on characters like Kasumi is just exposed midriff, which seems to fit in line with what Shimbori told GNN.

This is being compared to the armor breaking and clothes destruction ability in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, which showed significantly more skin in comparison to Dead or Alive 6. You can see how it looked in the compilation video below, where you can strip the characters out of their clothing via battle damage.

I did reach out to Shimbori to ask about and verify if the clothing damage has been reduced to appeal to female gamers. If he chooses to respond the article will be updated to reflect his response.

[Original article:] Dead or Alive 6 producer and director, Yohei Shimbori, recently attended an event in Taiwan and managed to speak with the rising Taiwanese gaming outlet, GNN, [backup] about some of the features and content of Dead or Alive 6, including the spec differences, some of the modes, characters, and the clothes damaging model.

During one brief segment of the interview, Shimbori explained that they toned down the clothes damage so that it wasn’t so excessive in order to appease the female gaming crowd. GNN paraphrased Shimbori’s words, writing…

“Regarding everyone’s interest in the clothing destruction mechanic, Yohei Shimbori said that they were taking into consideration the perception [of the game] from the female audience, so the clothing destruction wasn’t going to be extreme or excessive. Shimbori felt that perhaps that kind of feature was best played in a game that takes place in a nation with a southern island (Shimbori laughs). [GNN Editor’s note: This is referring to Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball]”

Apparently this keeps in line with Shimbori’s intent on lessening the fan-service and sex appeal of Dead or Alive 6 in hopes of attracting female gamers, casuals, and making it into the e-sports tournaments.

Toning down the clothes damage feature seems like a step back when compared to the clothing destruction in games like Soul Calibur VI, which was well received by fans.

Hoping to appeal to female gamers by removing features rarely ever turns out well, since trying to go by the word of gaming media who constantly claim that removing anything that appeals to straight males will increase sales with other market demographics has usually turned out to have dire consequences for the game’s sales. A perfect example of that is every game on the Get Woke, Go Broke master list.

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To make matters worse is that Shimbori reiterated that the reason for the recent delay of Dead or Alive 6 was to balance the game and for the “expressivity”. He’s yet to properly detail what “expressivity” means, but most assume it has to deal with some form of censorship, which has become common for almost every game on the PS4 with some level of fanservice.

Siliconera also detailed a few more of the comments that Shimbori made from the GNN piece, including that there are no plans to crossover content between Dead or Alive 6 and Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet, so don’t expect to see Misaki and her sister in the upcoming fighting game anytime soon.

There will also be differences in the specs between the systems and content, but he mentions that this will be detailed at a later date.

Dead or Alive 6 is scheduled to release on March 1st, 2019 for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC. You can currently download the online beta to test out the gameplay and get an idea of what the fighting mechanics and character handling is like.

(Thanks for the news tip zac za)