PS4/PS Vita Exclusive Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Breaks Sales Record at Play-Asia

Giuseppe Nelva March 29, 2016 7:40 AM EST

The decision by Koei Tecmo not to release Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 in the west may have upset quite a few gamers, but it’s definitely proving to be an asset for retailers dealing with the sale of Asian games to western customers.

Hong-Kong-based retailer Play-Asia has been at the forefront of bringing the Asian version of the game (which includes English subtitles) to the North American and European audience, and DualShockers reached out to their marketing and sales department to hear how it has been doing. The answer we received definitely indicates that the response of the market to Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 has been positive.

“I am able to confirm that we have broken all previous sales records for Play-Asia.com with the release of DOAX3.”

We asked for further details, and we learned that Koei Tecmo’s sexy title set the record for pre-order copies sold in the history of the retailer, beating the previous best seller J-Stars Victory VS by Bandai Namco.

“DOAX3 set our current record for pre-order copies sold of a single title from any region in the history of Play-Asia.com. Our previous record holder was the Japanese release of J-Stars Victory Vs. for the PS3 & PSVita.”

In the past, I have heard some arguing that the refusal to release the game in the west could have been due to low expected sales on Koei Tecmo’s part, but Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 doesn’t seem all that unpopular to me.

If you want more information on how the game plays, you can check out our review. You can also find our gallery and gameplay from the PS4 version, and comparison with the PS Vita version.