“That’s our daughter you’re drawing like a sauced-up tart!”
It’s been some time since Dead or Alive has had much cache in the fighting game space. Some might blame the Xtreme Beach Volleyball games, some might blame the fact that DoA 6 had an absolutely disastrous business model. You can probably guess which made them more money (hint: probably not the one that ultimately cost more to buy).
Of course, the hatred of the series trademark jiggle physics by anti-fun types in the media probably didn’t help much. You’re getting promises from the company that they’re reducing it. Wow, thanks.
Regardless the sexy ladies of the series have always been a draw. And, apparently for Koei Tecmo, that creates something of a problem. Because, according to Koei Tecmo legal affairs division head Tomotoshi Nishimura, they’ve had to take action against fan works as a means of protecting the IP. Specifically, they consider the female cast of the games “like daughters”.
And this terminology – musume, which can mean “young girl”, but in this context almost certainly means “daughter” – might sound familiar to some who’ve followed interviews regarding the series. While most search engines have been ruined by AI garbage, thus making it hard to find such things, back when series creator Tomonobu Itagaki was still with Tecmo, I recall an interview where he referred to the DoA girls as such. Granted, that has never stopped them from putting them in all manner of costumes, much less bikinis, but it’s not like this somewhat unusual viewpoint sprouted overnight. That said, even as far back as DoA 2 they had some of the girls in bikinis for promotional material.
Back on topic, at a recent panel on intellectual property rights held in Tokyo, Nishimura spoke about exactly this form of property defense. He elaborated that while the company doesn’t have a problem with doujinshi, and that Koei Tecmo actually helps sponsor Comiket; certain of these derivative works can be viewed by the company as IP damaging. To with, between 200 and 300 of these doujinshi based on Dead or Alive that were available online were suspended following legal action from the company, with one case being for using artwork from a game that had yet to be released. Nishimura also stated that Koei Tecmo requests takedowns for between 2000 and 3000 pieces of fan art posted to social media and sites like Pixiv in any given year.
Nishimura went on to say that some of this material, if left unchallenged, could be considered IP-damaging, and specifically damaging to the character’s image. And since other companies produce merchandise related to these characters (in partnership with Koei Tecmo), that image needs to be protected. But also the whole “musume” thing.
That said, it’s not exactly a revelation that they have to take steps to protect the image of characters from what was once the jiggliest fighting game franchise on the planet. And some of that really does go over the line such that it’s not hypocrisy for the company to engage in legal action over it. The most notable for DoA would probably be that DVD made using nude-modded footage of Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation (a game which never released outside Asia thanks to, you guessed it, Frank Stallone the anti-fun brigade). That said, the next game is probably not going to make things any easier for Koei Tecmo’s legal department, given the previous major issue; Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme is a dating sim with a photography mode that will be released exclusively in specific Asian territories.
Oh, the things a free camera can do with mods…
Source: PC Gamer
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