Dead or Alive 7 & NINJA Gaiden 4 are constantly being discussed within the community, and for some players, they just can't see a future, or they demand one that doesn't work right away for Koei Tecmo. Something we all have in common is that we have all been there with our requests for the company. Even with the popular Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation players are stifled that there hasn't been an original Dead or Alive fighter since Tina joined several years ago and the trend continued once more today with the announcement of Meg who has been met so far with a mixed reception.
Team NINJA has been on the verge of not saying anything within 2024 at all outside of Rise of the Ronin accolades and release. Yasuda started the new year by sharing his future goals (which included him saying he wants to return to their classic franchises), there have even been rumors of a new Koei Tecmo division with Hayashi leading that subsidiary. We've also learned that Team NINJA has been hard at work with not only Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation, but Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator Gacha games. As stated before, these games run on a weekly system, and they don't require the same attention and care of a NINJA Gaiden or DOA fighting experience.
Since Team NINJA has existed this is the quietest they have ever been on top of slow game production, and Team NINJA fans have a right to voice their concerns, but this is not the time to start a riot with the company. The reason I state this is because it usually does more harm than good. Several months ago, a valuable community member here stated that it wasn't easy for us to call Koei Tecmo out for the hair rental service of Dead or Alive 6, but we did, and the user believed that we are now being punished for it.
While there could be some truth to the statements the reality of the situation is that the hair service was an issue, but leaker Hiroaki Morita made it very apparent that DOA was being worked on after being correct about many leaks. If this was a Dead or Alive 6 continuation mechanically the players would have rejected it anyway because so many different fighters rejected Dead or Alive 6 not just for DLC problems, but fundamentally the entire experience. Sadly, there wasn't one thing that some professionals could take from DOA6 and enjoy. They hated DOA6 and when this unfortunate event occurs everyone is punished from the developer all the way to the casual player that DOES buy the game for DLC outfits.
There was a minority of players that enjoyed Dead or Alive 6 and to me that says something. The Japanese players continue to support it with weeklies and even the hard work of side tournaments at EVO Japan, but that's not what's getting the clicks; is it? DOAXVV is what's getting the attention, the clicks online, the numbers on Steam all while DOA6 players continue to struggle years after the base game release. Team NINJA still has DOA6 billed as the 'current' DOA title as proven by the sales and social media updates for the game; most players just don't see that it's still alive.
Go take a look at Dragon NINJA Ryu's monthly for Dead or Alive 6. You might actually learn something that you didn't process before. DOA6 is an underrated game with deceptively deep mechanics, but because of player backlash there was no way that the developer could respond with an Ultimate version of the game that would have been accepted.
Just because one game doesn't work out, doesn't mean that there can't be another one. Team NINJA is still thinking about these franchises heavily, but new things would have to be done with them. NINJA Gaiden 3 flopped and so did Dead or Alive 6 for most players, but it does not spell the end - it spells a new vision with perhaps new direction. Team NINJA's silence will eventually break because something HUGE must be cooking that is conducive to the unusual behavior.
If Nioh 3 is announced and you're not happy (I would expect a fan uproar) vocalize it to Koei Tecmo or Team NINJA in a way that shows you want more. Deliver content for Dead or Alive that exceeds your own expectations and could compete with the onslaught of photos DOAXVV provides social media on a daily basis. Also, pay attention to the surveys. Koei Tecmo expects to get some fan backlash privately within the surveys, and they actually listen to them. Criticism in private sounds lovely wouldn't you say? Not many publishers/developers take out time to do something like this anymore, but yet Koei Tecmo does it for every single game they release.
Starting a war with Koei Tecmo will not solve any pertinent issues that could be resolved with peaceful debate and kindness, but with that being said, angerly believing nothing is going on with Team NINJA currently would be a premature mistake. Whether or not it will please us as a community shouldn't be addressed until after the announcement is made. But let's also take some time to thank the FSD community for the continued contributions for each installment of Dead or Alive - it remains astonishing to me that we keep finding new discoveries for DOA titles that came out more than twenty years ago. When a new game does come along, it's always a nice thing, but to me it's almost more interesting to see how each game is taken care of and preserved as we melt the years away playing our favorites.
There is a time and place to pull the trigger,
DOAN
Team NINJA has been on the verge of not saying anything within 2024 at all outside of Rise of the Ronin accolades and release. Yasuda started the new year by sharing his future goals (which included him saying he wants to return to their classic franchises), there have even been rumors of a new Koei Tecmo division with Hayashi leading that subsidiary. We've also learned that Team NINJA has been hard at work with not only Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation, but Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator Gacha games. As stated before, these games run on a weekly system, and they don't require the same attention and care of a NINJA Gaiden or DOA fighting experience.
Since Team NINJA has existed this is the quietest they have ever been on top of slow game production, and Team NINJA fans have a right to voice their concerns, but this is not the time to start a riot with the company. The reason I state this is because it usually does more harm than good. Several months ago, a valuable community member here stated that it wasn't easy for us to call Koei Tecmo out for the hair rental service of Dead or Alive 6, but we did, and the user believed that we are now being punished for it.
While there could be some truth to the statements the reality of the situation is that the hair service was an issue, but leaker Hiroaki Morita made it very apparent that DOA was being worked on after being correct about many leaks. If this was a Dead or Alive 6 continuation mechanically the players would have rejected it anyway because so many different fighters rejected Dead or Alive 6 not just for DLC problems, but fundamentally the entire experience. Sadly, there wasn't one thing that some professionals could take from DOA6 and enjoy. They hated DOA6 and when this unfortunate event occurs everyone is punished from the developer all the way to the casual player that DOES buy the game for DLC outfits.
There was a minority of players that enjoyed Dead or Alive 6 and to me that says something. The Japanese players continue to support it with weeklies and even the hard work of side tournaments at EVO Japan, but that's not what's getting the clicks; is it? DOAXVV is what's getting the attention, the clicks online, the numbers on Steam all while DOA6 players continue to struggle years after the base game release. Team NINJA still has DOA6 billed as the 'current' DOA title as proven by the sales and social media updates for the game; most players just don't see that it's still alive.
Go take a look at Dragon NINJA Ryu's monthly for Dead or Alive 6. You might actually learn something that you didn't process before. DOA6 is an underrated game with deceptively deep mechanics, but because of player backlash there was no way that the developer could respond with an Ultimate version of the game that would have been accepted.
Just because one game doesn't work out, doesn't mean that there can't be another one. Team NINJA is still thinking about these franchises heavily, but new things would have to be done with them. NINJA Gaiden 3 flopped and so did Dead or Alive 6 for most players, but it does not spell the end - it spells a new vision with perhaps new direction. Team NINJA's silence will eventually break because something HUGE must be cooking that is conducive to the unusual behavior.
If Nioh 3 is announced and you're not happy (I would expect a fan uproar) vocalize it to Koei Tecmo or Team NINJA in a way that shows you want more. Deliver content for Dead or Alive that exceeds your own expectations and could compete with the onslaught of photos DOAXVV provides social media on a daily basis. Also, pay attention to the surveys. Koei Tecmo expects to get some fan backlash privately within the surveys, and they actually listen to them. Criticism in private sounds lovely wouldn't you say? Not many publishers/developers take out time to do something like this anymore, but yet Koei Tecmo does it for every single game they release.
Starting a war with Koei Tecmo will not solve any pertinent issues that could be resolved with peaceful debate and kindness, but with that being said, angerly believing nothing is going on with Team NINJA currently would be a premature mistake. Whether or not it will please us as a community shouldn't be addressed until after the announcement is made. But let's also take some time to thank the FSD community for the continued contributions for each installment of Dead or Alive - it remains astonishing to me that we keep finding new discoveries for DOA titles that came out more than twenty years ago. When a new game does come along, it's always a nice thing, but to me it's almost more interesting to see how each game is taken care of and preserved as we melt the years away playing our favorites.
There is a time and place to pull the trigger,
DOAN
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