Was it truly him though? I believe Matt mentioned it, but it was supposedly confirmed that he had nothing to do with the EVO situation. He only followed through it based off KT marketing teams.
Curious, why Yasuda specifically? is it because he's been in the building longer? there is literally someone in that building who's newly hired and is literally familiar with FGs. The individual I had in mind played and went to arcades for FGs in the past and does know how they work, he just never worked on it but can be a start after Wo Long or Ronin (?).
Course there's also the issue of whether or not he's even interested to do a FG since action games make bank so it may not even happen, but who's to say Yasuda won't run into the same exact troubles as Shimbori did, he'd literally be in the same palm that Shimbori was on. Yasuda's strong suit is also mostly action games no? If Shimbori had it rough for DOA and if Yasuda knows about it, is he going to also take that risk?
It is pretty niche in terms of the rest of the fighting games. People bought & heard about it, but not many would actually stay for the series. The amount of players that consistently play most of the other fighting games such as SF/Tekken exceed far higher than DOA. Sure it sold millions, but it doesn't mean much if people don't actually stay.
I do agree that KT should sit on it until it's time, but they legit do not know how to handle the FG one at this present time. DOAX/VV is literally carrying the series for "alive IP support".
DOA (the fighting game versions that is) needs a better backer and there is clear evidence for years already that KT is not very good at it. Maybe Xbox can buy the series or some shit I don't know lol.
Look at it this way: what is the point of defending Shimbori? People want to pick and choose what they believe of Morita? I line-up what I hear, along with the evidence of what happened that was presented and make a conclusion. The Ryona EVO appearance was stupid enough to get anyone fired and whatever credibility he thought he gave the game had with him backing it went out the window the day he did that. It's also pretty obvious the chair doesn't like drama at all and they back away from it or eliminate it when they can. The hair rental service didn't help, but the EVO incident was the biggest blow by far.
Why Yasuda? He's the president of the Team NINJA, and yes, he has been in the building the longest and most likely the one to be heard over a one year with fighting experience. I already mentioned that Yasuda probably wouldn't stick his neck out for DOA but convincing him that DOA is necessary is also a good idea and maybe he will at least offer some transparency.
I'm pretty sure everyone on that's ever picked up a controller knows that Tekken is more successful than DOA, but it's a great alternative to Tekken. I always prefer the alternative. WWE? No thank you I want AEW even though it doesn't draw near the ratings of WWE it does well. Would I pick PS5 over XBOX SERIES X? No. Why? Because I can deal without Sony's stupid policies, recycled third person-template, lack of innovative console features, industry killing ideas, backwards compatibility, horrible UI and that stupid, hypocritical jack ass Jim Ryan. Fuck that piece of shit. But guess what the PS5 has sold more, and people say unoriginal and stupid things like "XBOX has no games."
I don't play games to play the most popular thing and it shouldn't be a reason DOA doesn't make it back to the market. DOA makes more than enough money to remain in the scene, but unfortunately, we got stuck with Shimbori and he was the biggest blessing and the biggest curse to the franchise all at once.
When I watched KT's press conference people weren't asking for Nioh, or Ninja Gaiden, or Wo Long, or Ronin - they were asking for DOA in droves. We knew it wasn't going to happen, but the demand is clearly there and more so than any of Team NINJA's properties; properties I also enjoy.