“Dead or Alive 6” is going for less sexualized characters – Who are Team Ninja trying to please with DOA6?

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I had a feeling that something was up when Team Ninja announced “Dead or alive 6” with a reveal trailer via IGN (the trailer was released via Youtube on the 8th of June, and today IGN released a 13 minute long DOA6 gameplay video), because before I even had time to watch the said trailer myself, I spotted a whole lot of angry comments on social media about DOA6. So, why all this anger? It’s because according to an IGN interview with DOA6’s producer/director Yohei Shimbori, “Dead or Alive 6” will be toning down the fanservice (DOA6’s sexualization is to be toned down in-order to be more “realistic”).

Simply put, it’s said that Team Ninja made the decision themselves to tone down the sexual tones of DOA in DOA6. Well, it sure looks that way based on what Yohei Shimbori (producer/director for DOA6, Team Ninja) said in a recent interview with IGN. Even so, people are still saying that Team Ninja has caved in to the PC/SJW culture/forces of the West. Furthermore, then you also got the word on the street that Team Ninja has made this declension because they want to make DOA6 more esports friendly.

Well, so far it’s hard to say if that’s true or not (did really Team Ninja make their decision without outside influences?), and a lot could come to change before the final release of DOA6. Nevertheless, I do know for a fact that DOA’s Yohei Shimbori did indeed say the following about DOA6 in an interview with IGN:

“We wanted to make a more cool and mature Dead or Alive this time, and to that end we made a conscious decision to make the characters less sexualized,” – Yohei Shimbori via IGN’s DOA6 interview

“It goes without saying that this decision is heavily influenced by the fact that the industry is moving away from overtly sexualized female characters in general, but Team Ninja seems to have a concrete vision behind this shift in style. If you look at the game’s concept art, you can see that Kasumi is no longer just a fantasy figure for young boys; she’s a warrior.” – Yohei Shimbori via IGN’s DOA6 interview

“Dead or Alive is a series known to feature ostentatious characters such as ninjas and highly sexualized female fighters with nearly superhuman powers, and while Dead or Alive 6 still shares the same DNA, things seem to have become a lot more realistic and refined.” – Esra Krabbe, IGN

Yep, it sure doesn’t look good so far. Well, at least not if you’re a fan of lewd content and DOA’s previous sexual themes and visuals. That’s also why I can’t say that I’m surprised that DOA’s reveal trailer on Youtube is full of comments such as these:

“If Hitomi Upper region doesnt jiggle in the shirt. NO BUUYYY! NO JIGGLE NO BUY!” – LostChaosTv

“Its so weird that they are showcasing the male characters when this game is all about female fighters fan service…” – MrVocalover

“What’s the point of taking away all the jiggle physics and sexy outfits now there is literally nothing setting it apart from other fighting games” – DA SNAPP

“Bring Back revealing outfits NOW!!!!” – Es de Gamers

“1/10 Too many men” – CardOtakuDesu

“No jiggle physics = not buying.” – Dylan Mcgehee

“Lol, the dudes shows way more skin than the ladies XD Kasumi is only missing a hijab” – Nicolas Cortés

“DoA without fan service is like MK without gore, no thanks” – stawg007

That’s just the half of it though, because on DOA6’s Facebook page, there are plenty of SJW/PC comments such as this (and just for the record, I agree with what’s said):

“Remember that feminazis don’t buy DOA and men are sexualised in games too, so their opinion doesn’t matter. No need to take the sex appeal away and change the characters’ main outfits and bodies. Let’s see how the other characters will be revealed.” – Bruno Oliveira

“The breast physics are optional in DOA5, that’s good. I just suggest them to add the option to block (except in online mode) outfits we don’t like, whichever are the reasons (too gay, too appealing, too ugly, etc.). But they don’t need to cover the girls’ main outfits from neck to feet to be taken seriously.” – Bruno Oliveira

“Make sure to tell Team Ninja that nobody in the fanbase said to neuter the sex appeal. Toning it down doesn’t mean making Helena wear leather under her dress or covering Kasumi neck to feet. Oh wait, you won’t because only the tournament goers and feminists opinions matter now.” – Charles Learned

“Congratulations on further bowing to SJWs…first you won’t release DOAX3 outside Asia, and now you are toning down the sexually suggestive clothing and removing the breast jiggle physics??? Way to alienate the entire DOA base that grew up with the originals.” – Sephi Twenty-Four

“Don’t bow to the sjws, but also don’t do lootboxes or 12 GOD DAMN CLOTHING DLC PASSES AGAIN! Unacceptable fandom exploitation” – Richard Wiltshire

“Fanservice has always been a part of the DOA franchise, and it’s not going away. Taking away the fanservice here would be like Mortal Kombat removing the blood and gore.” – Steve Anctil

“Basically they sold out. They’re making this game to please people who didn’t like the franchise in the first place, instead of making it for the fans of DOA who have been supporting the franchise up until now.” – Roman Monterossa

“If they tone it down to appease a minority of PC crybabies, the fan base will absolutely DESTROY them.” – Lewis Astridge

“Jann Lee and Zack fight shirtless, Rig is bare chest, so I do hope they don’t start covering the girls’ main outfits. Kasumi’s main is that blue small kimono, you know that, Team Ninja and Tecmo. You’re not Western, don’t give in to our worst people’s feefees, they don’t even buy the game.” – Bruno Oliveira

“The Thought Police got to them. Dead or Vanilla 6 incoming. Plus, no VF characters. Pass.” – The pseudokings



I also couldn’t help to notice the following Facebook comments that were positive about Team Ninja’s decision to tone down the sexiness and lewd content in DOA6:

“More mature, that’s a good thing. It looks great so far but it’s just a trailer, we need some gameplay soon :)And people bitching about the “lack of sexyness” who probably only knew DOA since the 5th one: gtfo, this isn’t your game. Go to Youporn or something.” – Arthur Vyncke

“Keep it up and remember: Nioh did not require boobs to be your best selling game. DOA 5’s initial DLC was all based on that, and it did permanent damage to the series reputation. Don’t repeat history.” – Erik Argetsinger

“I for one am glad to see DOA attempt to move beyond the boobs , this series has been around for over 20 years now people , it doesn’t need to appeal only to 14 year old male otakus forever. Also not that “toning down” does not mean “removed”. You can bet your ass that skimpy outfits will be DLC down the road.” – Rhys Cavanagh

“What’s up with all these salty people complaining already? We’ve barely seen anything from the game yet and you guys are complaining from second one? “Kasumi doesn’t wear skimpy clothes oh noooo” “I can’t see Helena’s panties anymore!” Please. Go play the beach game.” – Freja Arrdís

Pay close attention to the “this is not your game” part. Here’s a reality check, the FANS made the DOA series to what it is today (no fans, no series). Furthermore, the DOA series has relied heavily on its sexy female fighters and sexual themes. My point would be this, who is Team Ninja trying to sell DOA6 to? The fans who have been with the series since day one, or people who haven’t been supporting the DOA series throughout the years? What I’m trying to say is that this decision of making the DOA6 characters less sexualized, that is a decision that could just end up costing Team Ninja dearly in the end.

However, it’s worth pointing out that Team Ninja had thoughts like this in the past with DOA5, but they had a change of heart once the DOA community had them know that they weren’t all that happy with their decision. Even so, I have to admit that the very first trailer of DOA6 looked pretty darn cool.

Sadly enough though, the trailer is very short, and I wish that Team Ninja and KOEI TECMO had shown a little bit more from the game. It’s also worth pointing out that all of this might just be a PR-trick as well, because just like they say “there is no such thing as bad PR”, and DOA6 has received plenty of free PR since the 8th of June.

So only time will tell how DOA6 will turn out in the end. Even so, I couldn’t help to notice that it seems like DOA’s fanbase are divided into two camps now. Those who hate the idea of having a toned-down version in terms of sexual content in the shape of DOA6, and those who are perfectly fine with it (the very same people also seem to want even further covering up of sexual content and naked skin in DOA6).

In other words, this battle appears to be between old-school DOA fans and new DOA fans. Nevertheless, let’s be honest here shall we? The DOA series has always been about it’s sexy, deadly and strong female fighters. So from my point of view, Team Ninja is just playing themselves with their decision to tone down the sexiness and lewd content in DOA6.

Sure, there are probably those would claim that I (and others) are paranoid and complaining about nothing. Well, here’s the thing, even if Team Ninja didn’t cave in to the SJW movement, they might still have opened up a can of worms. You see, if you give the SJWs one finger, then they will soon take off your whole arm. My point would be that this could just be one out of many future updates in terms of toning down sexual content in the DOA series. I hope that I’m wrong though, but my gut feeling is telling me that I’m right.

Other than that, there is another thing that I thought of just now. You see, since the day when Team Ninja announced DOA6 I have seen quite a lot of comments from SJWs who have tried to shame and trash talk DOA fans and gamers in general who merely pointed out that they don’t like the direction that Team Ninja is taking with DOA6. Simply put, most gamers are more than fed up with having the PC and SJW cancer injected into their games.

Who can blame them though? Because once that kind of culture gets into a game, movie, comic or whatever, the meltdown process will soon start to kick-off (the “from gold to pure shit” process), and let’s not forget that it’s not true that lewd content and sexy female characters in video games turn males into sexist pigs and rapist as well. So those shaming tactics are now just as broken, unusable and irrelevant as a certain self-proclaimed feminist pop culture expert.

Anyways, here’s my final say on this matter. Why doesn’t just Team Ninja add an in-game option for DOA6 to switch lewd content and whatnot on and off? That way Team Ninja could still flirt with the esports scene with DOA6, and still keep the DOA fanbase happy. That way it’s a win-win situation for everyone. Especially since it makes on sense whatsoever that we had to import DOAX3 just to get a toned-down DOA6 later on.

I honestly hope that Team Ninja will change their mind about DOA6 before the game releases in early 2019, because I’m not buying a toned-down DOA experience…And I’m not doing so only because I don’t like the thought of having less sexiness and lewd content in the game, but also because I want Team Ninja to know that I’m not cool with this.

And with that said, what’s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!

Credit:

Matt Invictus‏

PortableNiche

appabend



Source:

DOA6 via Twitter

DOA6’s homepage

DOA6 via Facebook

One Angry Gamer (“Dead Or Alive 6 Announced, Sexualization Toned Down To Be More “Realistic””)

One Angry Gamer (“Dead or Alive 6 Removes Soft Engine, Was Influenced By American Comics, Films”)

IGN (“Dead or Alive 6 First Hands-On: Can Team Ninja Balance Familiar and Fresh?”)

IGN (“Dead or Alive 6 Announced”)

Dualshockers (“Dead or Alive 6 Won’t Use the Soft Engine; Director Explains Tech and Change to “Cool” Looks”)

KotakuInAction



***Disclaimer***

This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions. Furthermore, I’m a straight male. I love lewd content, hot female babes (real as fictional ones) and sex, and I feel no shame about it whatsoever.



Robin “V-Act” Ek

Editor in chief

The Gaming Ground

Twitter: @TheGamingGround

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Tags: Dead or Alive, Dead or Alive 6, DOA, DOA6, Fighting games, PC games, PS4, Team Ninja, Xbox One