Team NINJA is Planning to Reboot Dead or Alive and NINJA Gaiden

Some breaking news has been released today during Team NINJA's keynote at the South Korea G-Star conference by Fumihiko Yasuda that Dead or Alive and NINJA Gaiden reboots will be the future of the company after the release of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty & Rise of Ronin. The final image presented in the breaking story has been translated by key individuals in our community including @WAZAAAAA and @Matt Ponton respectively:

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Team NINJA's Future - Reboot of Popular Series - Images of NINJA Gaiden & Dead or Alive ​

There is a lot of information in this story, and we will break all of it down here at Free Step Dodge, but this looks like extremely positive evidence of a future and now is probably not the time to leave the DOA community if you were planning to jump the fence. We've been covering Team NINJA's Fumihiko Yasuda all year and he checks all of the boxes of a proper president: he's been honest, he's developed legendary games, he's focused on the present and the future.

We don't know all of the details yet, but everyone interested should be inclined to give Yasuda a chance after (in all due respect) the marketing blunder that Yohei Shimbori was vacuumed into as Team NINJA director and producer for Dead or Alive 6. Shimbori was put into a position where he could not excel with DOA6 and was unfortunately retired because of it not to dampen the rest of his career which was a legendary run on his part.

If we find out in ANYWAY that these translations are inaccurate, we will remove them, but as of now they have been double checked, fact checked, site checked and approved for this story release. Also, it's important to consider that the term 'reboot' can mean a wide array of different things, some elements that could have negative impact and some elements that could have positive impact and we ask that you consider that when discussing the future of the games. Seeing as how Yasuda has been as transparent as he can be to a global audience; this is a good indicator of things to come.

 

A sample of the "attractive" women of the other fighting games you mentioned:

Umm I mean, I mentioned Cammy and Juri. Also that was your argument not mine but go off, I guess. Not to mention not everyone is a fan a girls that barely pass the "age" test. A bit questionable imo but that's for another thread lol.

If beautiful characters were the criteria for players to play the game, then yes, everyone would be playing DoA but it's not so... back to the drawing board and one of my initial points, TN will have to find away to attract people to playing their games and not just the niche base it has.

 

TN will have to find away to attract people to playing their games and not just the niche base it has.

They did attract new players with DOA6, I am living proof. But they messed it up with their promotional tactics at EVO and the poor DLC pricing practices. The only people who really continue to complain about the game itself nowadays are the oldheads who were already part of the fanbase to begin with. DOA6 is a pretty solid game at its core imo, and doesn't deserve the reputation that's been put upon it due to poor promotion and corporate decision making.

If Team Ninja really wants to capture a wider audience today, I think they should continue to emphasise the more "anime" elements (which have been present since the beginning, to some extent) that they leaned into with 6. DOA has the opportunity to present itself as the perfect crossroads between "anime fighter" (which is usually a term applied to 2D fighters from what I understand) and "traditional 3D fighter" (or whatever category you would put games like Tekken and Street Fighter into).

 

Umm I mean, I mentioned Cammy and Juri. Also that was your argument not mine but go off, I guess. Not to mention not everyone is a fan a girls that barely pass the "age" test. A bit questionable imo but that's for another thread lol.

If beautiful characters were the criteria for players to play the game, then yes, everyone would be playing DoA but it's not so... back to the drawing board and one of my initial points, TN will have to find away to attract people to playing their games and not just the niche base it has.

My waifu is the most beautiful video game character of all time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's not just beautiful characters, but overall how a game looks.

 

If Team Ninja really wants to capture a wider audience today, I think they should continue to emphasise the more "anime" elements...DOA has the opportunity to present itself as the perfect crossroads between "anime fighter"

Uh lemme stop you right there NiCO fanboi...

 

If TN made another DOA, it would mainly be for their niche fanbase. They'd have to do some serious marketing work (and possible system rework) to pull in new players. The challenge that TN needs to address is, why would anyone want to play DOA7 over the likes of Tekken 8, MK12, SFVI, etc. I don't see TN securing the capital from Koei to do that. Publishers today are not interested in pouring money into anything that they feel won't make any profit.

DOA making profit has never really been a serious problem for the company. They've said in recent PR events despite KT not having the biggest franchises in the world that their financials are doing just fine and in the fine print it shows that they are making more money than they ever have before. As far as tournament numbers go, I'm one of those people who do not care, and I believe that the DOA and VF community have done a better job at representing newcomer players than Tekken or Street Fighter.

Two games that despite having such a big budget and player base are just now beginning to look better than Dead or Alive 4.

 

Uh lemme stop you right there NiCO fanboi...

You must live under a rock if you think the kids these days don't love anime lmao. It's all people talk about on the internet.
Adapt or perish.

 

You must live under a rock if you don't think the kids these days don't love anime lmao. It's all people talk about on the internet.
Adapt or perish.

Don't even waste your time with that guy. Ignoring him is recommended. I don't know why he is here.

 

You must live under a rock if you don't think the kids these days don't love anime lmao. It's all people talk about on the internet.
Adapt or perish.

No, I thought it was funny coming from someone who plays a character that is the most anime in the roster wanting DOA to emphasize being an anime fighter more

 

No, I thought it was funny coming from someone who plays a character that is the most anime in the roster wanting DOA to emphasize being an anime fighter more

My brother in christ you play a literal shrine maiden with magic ninja powers - how is one more anime than the other, exactly? And how is either one being "anime" a bad thing? You do know that DOA is a Japanese game, right?

 

You do know shrine maidens exist in Japan, right?

Light blue haired scientist lolis with lightning bolts from her gloves only exist in anime fantasies.

 

IdK, when they decided to include a character in DOA 1 whose backstory was finished in an OVA about demons and ninjas they kinda sealed the deal on being anime.

Also your shrinemaiden argument is baseless, they do exist, but they don't cast fire with their hands, have double jumps or pracitce aikijujutsu, same goes for scientists, they exist in bulk, just not the blue haired eletric fighter types.

 

Nothing wrong with anime tbh. Doa has tengu’s which magical as you can get. i miss bankotsubo lol

 

Also your shrinemaiden argument is baseless, they do exist, but they don't cast fire with their hands, have double jumps or pracitce aikijujutsu

They absolutely do, they just never demonstrate it in public.

 

In my personal opinion they destroyed the future of what made Dead or Alive great.

 

Personally I wasn't feeling it with an idea of a DOA reboot, because things can go completely wrong with a reboot. Honestly for DOA the only thing they should do is try to copy what made both DOA5 & DOAXVV very profitable even if the prices are something that not everyone is a fan of from $92 Season Pass or Paid V-Stones (especially certain outfits could cost you up $619.08-$675.36 if you weren't lucky 20 times), forget attracting new audience their priority should make a game last 5 years or longer with outfits being expensive to get (like SF Duels had an outfit you can buy for $99.99).

That's what venus vacation is for.

Although in the case of that game, it outright rejected any form of actual gameplay at all.

Have you forgotten about DOA5?

PS. Venus Vacation has gameplay because you can lose, switch partners (which last for 2 matches), & click on the Super Button. Unlike DOAX3 new mini game Rock Climbing where all you do is press buttons, and you can't lose. Trust Me I tried to purposely lose just for the heck of it, the girls can't fall meaning you can't lose in Rock Climbing.

If TN made another DOA, it would mainly be for their niche fanbase. They'd have to do some serious marketing work (and possible system rework) to pull in new players. The challenge that TN needs to address is, why would anyone want to play DOA7 over the likes of Tekken 8, MK12, SFVI, etc. I don't see TN securing the capital from Koei to do that. Publishers today are not interested in pouring money into anything that they feel won't make any profit.

For some serious marketing work they should abandon focus on eSports/FGC events since not everyone plays fighting games just to see them being played in events, they're marketing tone should be a mix of EVO Japan Core Values from the beginning (which came later in DOA6 development before its release) & DOAXVV when they're new trendy outfits (which doesn't happen all the time).
The reason anyone should play DOA7 is for the very beautiful female characters (including petite bodies like Marie), risque outfits (like fiend outfit & Arnice demon transformation outfit that should be 100% better than what other games have to offer), clothing destruction (that began from Senran Kagura Collaboration), swimsuit malfunctions (DOAX3 & DOAXVV), poses that give you close shot of breast or butt (something Capcom wouldn't have the guts to do like SFV), Gravure Movies where you can move around the camera & take pictures in different outfits (like DOA5+), & optional jiggle physics from Off/Natural/DOA/OMG. I guarantee these stuff is not only enough reason to play DOA7 over Tekken 8 (still a Teen game), MK12 (which is a joke), & SFVI (which is another joke, and Capcom would've censored content. Marisa is a joke and DOA has an easy win) but it will make DOA franchise profitable again like DOA5 was when they had these content.
All they need for profits is DLC/Mircotransaction that is very expensive like an outfit should be worth $90 or more (for increasing chances in Gacha events), since thats DOA bread & butter for success since 2 of their games lasted for 5 years, and 1 justified a sequel which was DOA6 (despite it being a disappointment) which is something VF never had in its lifespan after VF5 Final Showdown PS3/360 release.

 

For some serious marketing work they should abandon focus on eSports/FGC events since not everyone plays fighting games just to see them being played in events, they're marketing tone should be a mix of EVO Japan Core Values from the beginning (which came later in DOA6 development before its release) & DOAXVV when they're new trendy outfits (which doesn't happen all the time).
The reason anyone should play DOA7 is for the very beautiful female characters (including petite bodies like Marie), risque outfits (like fiend outfit & Arnice demon transformation outfit that should be 100% better than what other games have to offer), clothing destruction (that began from Senran Kagura Collaboration), swimsuit malfunctions (DOAX3 & DOAXVV), poses that give you close shot of breast or butt (something Capcom wouldn't have the guts to do like SFV), Gravure Movies where you can move around the camera & take pictures in different outfits (like DOA5+), & optional jiggle physics from Off/Natural/DOA/OMG. I guarantee these stuff is not only enough reason to play DOA7 over Tekken 8 (still a Teen game), MK12 (which is a joke), & SFVI (which is another joke, and Capcom would've censored content. Marisa is a joke and DOA has an easy win) but it will make DOA franchise profitable again like DOA5 was when they had these content.
All they need for profits is DLC/Mircotransaction that is very expensive like an outfit should be worth $90 or more (for increasing chances in Gacha events), since thats DOA bread & butter for success since 2 of their games lasted for 5 years, and 1 justified a sequel which was DOA6 (despite it being a disappointment) which is something VF never had in its lifespan after VF5 Final Showdown PS3/360 release.

Dude THANK YOU. I've been saying this forever. Go all in on the fanservice. That's what people are buying these games for.

DOA is forever stuck with that titty-fighter-not-a-serious-fighting-game label. So just own it already. They should have taken that core values incident and ran with it. "Yeah it's a tig biddy fighter, so what? We are going to be releasing a free to play "Core Values" trial, with adjustable booba physics" No balls.

I keep reading how people are embarrassed by playing DOA. You know what's fucking embarrassing? When they showcased DOA6 and they press a single button to demonstrate how easy it is to do a combo. That's cringe.

You want a "serious" fighting game in a sort of DOA-ish style? Go play VF. It's got zero hot chicks and flash, but the games are excellent and worth spending the time to get good at. And they don't need any fan mods to be taken "seriously" either.

 

Koei Tecmo : You're going to love Three Kingdoms and the whole Chinese history

 

^ HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA so true

 

I rather have no DOA than DOA becoming a fucking gacha game with no gameplay attached whose sole purpose is getting money from addicted people.

Genius idea, why not make the game good on all fronts?

 

Not these people whos entire idea of if a fighting game is good or not being based on if they are attracted to the female cast or not lmao, so “MK12 and SF6” are a joke…. Yeah nevermind sf6 looking incredible on every single level and bursting with style and content, not every single female character in the cast is designed to be specifically “attractive” so its a “joke”…mess. (Also your insane if your looking at characters like cammy etc and gonna tell me they arent good looking)

Whenever or if doa7 does come out i dont see this extremely restrictive focus image some of you seem to see for it where it has to be “fanservice game” and thats all it can be for some reason? Like it’s entirely impossible for it to have fanservice and also be viable competitively also well with any depth of mechanics?