Last month the community manager for Koei Tecmo made the following statement in response to a comment on the Dead or Alive Facebook page to a question about the possibility of the game making its way out west.
“We do not bring DOAX3 to the west and won’t have any plan change in the future. Thank you for asking.”
When pressed on the matter and the reasoning for the Asia only release strategy, the community manager followed up by speaking out about the way women were being represented in video games over the past few years, and how it affected the decision to keep the game from releasing outside of Asia territories.
“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.”
Many took from those comments –made on the official Facebook page– that Koei Tecmo is keeping the game more local because of the social pressure being put on how women are being depicted within video games. The Dead or Alive series was a pioneer in breast jiggle physics and was known for its oversexualized female fighters, and less known for that “so bad it’s good” movie based on the series. Still, if fear of backlash and criticism is the reason the game is being kept from us, that would be a real shame as it is a fun and solid fighting series and a decent volleyball simulation that is more silly than anything.
Koei Tecmo released an official statement regarding the statements made on Facebook and about the future of Dead or Alive Xtreme 3,
The comments recently made by an employee regarding Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 on the official Dead or Alive Facebook page only reflect that individual’s opinion and not the opinion or business strategy of Koei Tecmo Games.
We remain focused on delivering the best in fighting entertainment to our fans around the world, while consciously respecting and strategizing to support the different global audiences the Dead or Alive franchise lends itself to.
Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 remains in development and is still planned for release in Japan and Asia only.
That’s a lot of words for not really saying a lot on the matter. Still, if you do want the game to come out –even if only in digital format– let the studio know by dropping them a message on Facebook or on twitter. What do you think about this situation? Is Koei Tecmo bowing to social pressure, or are they just keeping the game local where it sees most sales?
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