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.

 

They should revitalize the franchise with a more SERIOUS tone then...
The giggling Age of "BOOBA" DOA is kinda over tbh and NO giant mess of DLC stuff plz

 

I think it'll be a long time before we get a new DOA/NG although I feel like Ninja Gaiden might come sooner than DOA. Team Ninja just announced that the Nioh series has sold over 7 million copies. While the Ninja Gaiden series has sold 6.8 million (this is before the Master Collection came out). So the two Nioh games has sold more than the Ninja Gaiden series. Although varies versions of Ninja gaiden games were exclusive to one console and Nioh was exclusive to PlayStation and PC.

Nioh series shipments and digital sales top seven million

Total worldwide shipments and digital sales for the Nioh series have surpassed seven million units, publisher Koei Tecmo and developer Team Ninja announced.

www.gematsu.com

Ninja Gaiden series has sold 6.8m copies to date

The Ninja Gaiden series has apparently shifted over 6.8 million copies to date. That's according to developer Team Ninja's website for the upcoming Master Collection compilation, which touts this...

www.pcgamesinsider.biz

I don't think they can get those sales numbers with DOA. So the higher ups probably won't greenlight a new DOA or maybe they will but give it a low budget. Not sure how accurate this is, but this is the closest sales data on DOA that I could find.

DOA2-DOA4 were console launch titles so that probably helped their sales.

Although DOA can make more money from DLC. I feel like DOA5 had the best version of gameplay in the DOA series. It can be further refined and better stages/content added but that won't make it grow that much more in popularity. I think there's still an audience for 3D fighters. Tekken is still doing good. Tekken 7 has sold over 9 million copies. I don't want they to make DOA into Tekken but maybe they can learn some things from the Tekken series. I think the soulslike games are more popular right now. Team Ninja pretty much took the Souls formula and made Nioh, which I prefer more. Technically they did the same thing with DOA as it was based off of Virtua Fighter.

If they're going to green light another DoA with a low budget and more reused assets (stages), they might as well not even bother. All the stages in DoA5 were pretty good, and bringing back stages from DOA3/NG were amazing, however it was lazy in DOA6 because they brought back a few of the least favorites, and charged us again for some of the same DLC from DOA5.

I question can TN even do the DoA series justice after DOA6. Everything about 6 was bad, the story, the focus on the new characters, the pointless in game currency, lack of costumes for the males, terrible recolours, tryng to make us buy hair recolours. They really need a proper team to get the next installment right otherwise, it's just going to be another shit show.

 

They should revitalize the franchise with a more SERIOUS tone then...
The giggling Age of "BOOBA" DOA is kinda over tbh and NO giant mess of DLC stuff plz

even a hint of that will cause the online fans to go crazy… again.

 

Well hey we’re not dead yet. Though the word reboot does scare me a bit considering that could mean anything. If it does turn out to be essentially Venus Fighters then I guess it’ll be the end for me personally, but I’ll be optimistic. Relying on DOA being the future of the company leads me to believe they’ll sell out on that idea.

Can’t deny a breath of fresh air in the DOA brand and aesthetic is needed, which is what made it so appealing to begin with. Embrace a style, maybe get younger talent in areas and make the game look newcomer friendly without losing its edge (unlike how awkward DOA6 was). Don’t even mention the fan service stuff just let the game speak in that regard like literally every other fighting game. DOA is a frustrating series for the potential of what the fighting game can be if they just flavored the game in areas, so I hope they consider not just catering to the base on this one and put effort into saving the game. But of course most of this would require budget and idk if they’d go all out with this franchise ever again.
Ninja Gaiden returning is hype considering how good Nioh has been. Again no idea what reboot indicates so maybe we’re looking at a DmC situation with Hayabusa or just a retelling with updated gameplay.

 

If they're going to green light another DoA with a low budget and more reused assets (stages), they might as well not even bother. All the stages in DoA5 were pretty good, and bringing back stages from DOA3/NG were amazing, however it was lazy in DOA6 because they brought back a few of the least favorites, and charged us again for some of the same DLC from DOA5.

I question can TN even do the DoA series justice after DOA6. Everything about 6 was bad, the story, the focus on the new characters, the pointless in game currency, lack of costumes for the males, terrible recolours, tryng to make us buy hair recolours. They really need a proper team to get the next installment right otherwise, it's just going to be another shit show.

To be fair most of the stages in DOA6 were completely new. I didn't see a problem with the story either, I was entertained by it, and they tried a lot harder than other 3D fighters with boring comic book or character portraits being the cut scene. I liked the interaction between Kokoro and Helena and I also thought NiCO was handled well. I wasn't a big fan of Honoka and Marie Rose, but they made it somewhat interesting with Raidou being the father of Honoka. She's also one of the first copy-cat characters I can think of being given a story.

Micro-transactions should be handled similar to DOAXVV for future titles. Loot boxes that you can earn or pay for. The in-game currency was fine. You could use it for titles, base game costumes, accessories for the characters, lore and music. I think some people go too far out of their way to say it was horrendous, because I've played far worse, but I don't believe NG3 or DOA6 met the expectations of Team NINJA to the degree of other titles, and they know there needs to be some changes made.

 

If they keep Player Points in the next game let the PP be used to unlock a costume early like in DOA4. My issue with the PP unlock system in 6 was that you had to grind the costume parts AND THEN had to grind the money to actually buy the costume. It was a step back in every way possible to the the old way of unlocking costumes. Maybe DOA 202X should have more to use PP on as well, we know DOA6 had an unused art gallery from data mines and the return of 5s movie gallery would be cool to give us more to use the PP on.

I'm also not 100% against the idea of XVVs heart system being in the next game either especially if you have earned hearts and paid hearts, if they went with that option maybe paid hearts could be used for costume DLC like the premium tickets on PS4? and free hearts used on unlockables. Either that or DOA 202X becomes fully f2p gacha lol.

 

even a hint of that will cause the online fans to go crazy… again.

But the Age of "Sex sells" hurt the DOA Franchise more than it helped at the end so what are the options!?

 

But the Age of "Sex sells" hurt the DOA Franchise more than it helped at the end so what are the options!?

I have no clue. But remembering how people lost their minds over the first reveal of DOA6 because helena and kasumi had clothes on, doesnt point to anything good lol

 

But the Age of "Sex sells" hurt the DOA Franchise more than it helped at the end so what are the options!?

If the "Age of "Sex sells hurt the DOA Franchise", the DOA franchise shouldn't even be a thing to be get a reboot. If "Sex sells hurt" then DOAXVV (standalone free-to-play version) wouldn't have its 5 Year Anniversary (since its 2017 release on DMM Games), it wouldn't be #1 game on DMM Games website, it wouldn't have all content (that DOA6 will never see again), DOA6 shouldn't be the game that exist, DOA5 shouldn't have all the DLC content that gave reason to make a sequel (something VF could never get), DOA should've stopped at DOA1 thanks to the bouncing breast, multiple choices of female costumes with various themes, & the fact Kasumi & Ayane were underage (Kasumi Age 17 & Ayane Age 16 from DOA1 to DOA: Dimensions, which every Western version had N/A or Not Available for characters that were under 18 except DOA: Dimensions European release).

By the way The giggling Age of "BOOBA" DOA is not kinda over, the only thing that should be over is DOA being available for Western audience like DOAX spin off titles (DOAX3, DOAXVV, & DOAX3 Scarlet). Your idea of wanting the franchise to have "more SERIOUS tone" is only best for a brand new fighting game IP developed by Team Ninja & Koei Tecmo, while DOA fighting game series should be taking everything what made DOAXVV successful.

 

To be fair most of the stages in DOA6 were completely new. I didn't see a problem with the story either, I was entertained by it, and they tried a lot harder than other 3D fighters with boring comic book or character portraits being the cut scene. I liked the interaction between Kokoro and Helena and I also thought NiCO was handled well. I wasn't a big fan of Honoka and Marie Rose, but they made it somewhat interesting with Raidou being the father of Honoka. She's also one of the first copy-cat characters I can think of being given a story.

Micro-transactions should be handled similar to DOAXVV for future titles. Loot boxes that you can earn or pay for. The in-game currency was fine. You could use it for titles, base game costumes, accessories for the characters, lore and music. I think some people go too far out of their way to say it was horrendous, because I've played far worse, but I don't believe NG3 or DOA6 met the expectations of Team NINJA to the degree of other titles, and they know there needs to be some changes made.

Honestly I will say "fuck that" to Dead or Alive 6. No way in hell can they make the Story Mode even better, it was almost like you would have to search for the right event in the timeline but it's very disjointed. How would they have not followed along Dead or Alive 5's Timeline Story when they wasted more on DLC Costumes and other Micro-transactions? Of course I will always disagree saying that Honoka is NOT the daughter of Raidou because they never even want to show who the mother of her really is, and honestly I don't give a shit. The ending of DOA6's Story caught me off guard as I was already saying "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, SHIMBORI!" after the credits, they really don't know if they're ever going to continue the story where Helena's mother is being kept in a cryo-tube and then NiCO just gets slapped by Helena and then somehow vanishes. What I really want in Dead or Alive 7 is a playable recap Storyline much like how Tekken 7 started with a young Kazuya trying to beat his father Heihachi before being thrown off the cliff. I want something similar to that except maybe have a young Kasumi and Ayane try and spar in a match and maybe have Kasumi take on Raidou from the event of the first DOA game and a few other events from later DOA games. Plus I think they should drop and lose the in-game currency because it really isn't needed to those that want to play DOA, a lot of those in-game costumes price are ridiculous, and releasing Ryu's DOA2 Outfit as well as Mila's Biker Gear aren't "free". I miss when you would just unlock the costumes in the game for free WITHOUT PAYING FOR IT. Especially how they made Zack's alien suit which was always a default in most DOA games PURCHASABLE IN DOA6. There's just no point at all that DOA need to have a micro-transaction for their fighting games. They would've gone back into Dead or Alive 5 and kept most of the formula that made it so popular, and give us a playable recap story that can easily tell the minds of fighting gamers to understand.

 

Honestly I will say "fuck that" to Dead or Alive 6. No way in hell can they make the Story Mode even better, it was almost like you would have to search for the right event in the timeline but it's very disjointed. How would they have not followed along Dead or Alive 5's Timeline Story when they wasted more on DLC Costumes and other Micro-transactions? Of course I will always disagree saying that Honoka is NOT the daughter of Raidou because they never even want to show who the mother of her really is, and honestly I don't give a shit. The ending of DOA6's Story caught me off guard as I was already saying "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, SHIMBORI!" after the credits, they really don't know if they're ever going to continue the story where Helena's mother is being kept in a cryo-tube and then NiCO just gets slapped by Helena and then somehow vanishes. What I really want in Dead or Alive 7 is a playable recap Storyline much like how Tekken 7 started with a young Kazuya trying to beat his father Heihachi before being thrown off the cliff. I want something similar to that except maybe have a young Kasumi and Ayane try and spar in a match and maybe have Kasumi take on Raidou from the event of the first DOA game and a few other events from later DOA games. Plus I think they should drop and lose the in-game currency because it really isn't needed to those that want to play DOA, a lot of those in-game costumes price are ridiculous, and releasing Ryu's DOA2 Outfit as well as Mila's Biker Gear aren't "free". I miss when you would just unlock the costumes in the game for free WITHOUT PAYING FOR IT. Especially how they made Zack's alien suit which was always a default in most DOA games PURCHASABLE IN DOA6. There's just no point at all that DOA need to have a micro-transaction for their fighting games. They would've gone back into Dead or Alive 5 and kept most of the formula that made it so popular, and give us a playable recap story that can easily tell the minds of fighting gamers to understand.

This is pretty much beating a dead horse, but I'm absolutely sure the DOA community unanimously agreed that DOA6's story was 100% Grade A dumpster fire. At least I hope so after playing it myself when the game launched (I should've listened to @UpSideDownGRUNT when he warned me) l0l

 

Honestly I will say "fuck that" to Dead or Alive 6. No way in hell can they make the Story Mode even better--

I'mma stop you right there.

1) Diego's reluctance to participate in the DOA6 tourney stems from his estranged father - an associate of the old DOATEC - mysteriously abandoning him and his mother (who may or may not be one of Fame Douglas's mistresses, Isabella) for years, leaving him to take care of his mother who had gradually fallen ill.

2) NiCO and Marie Rose secretly know each other as friends, which further adds to the mystery of whether Marie Rose is a double agent for MIST or someone who tried to talk NiCO out of joining it prior to her working for Helena, which gives Marie more leverage as an important character rather than just comic relief.

3) Although Bankotsubo was dead for 2 years, his spirit remained in the human realm and possesses Nyotengu, who he uses to infiltrate the MIST lab to somehow restore his body through the skeletal remains that DOATEC managed to salvage. Raidou's revival was just the second act.

4) The combined efforts of Ryu Hayabusa, Rachel, Momiji, and the Mugen Tenshin were required to fend off the revived, more powerful Bankotsubo, but he isn't defeated. Instead he retreats to the tengu realm to amass an army by force to invade the human realm, setting up Ninja Gaiden 4 with Hayate and Kasumi as (canon) playable characters.

5) Jann Lee encounters Rig in the middle of the tourney (not after) to find out why he's been acting strange. He follows him only to be ambushed by MIST ops, and is persuaded by Rig to join them after telling him the "truth" about his parents, and that DOATEC was responsible for his suffering. This in turn changes the outcome to Hitomi winning the tourney instead of Jann Lee winning it twice, and arguably gives Leifang an opportunity to return the debt of Jann Lee saving her life 16 years ago, making them even.

6) Leon is an easy one. Bayman just needs to mention there's a way to revive Rolande and off he goes wrecking shit to get her back.

And that's just a few changes off the top of my head that would help enrich the story not only for the new characters, but the ones like Rachel and Momiji who got shafted narratively. But I digress. I personally wouldn't mind a reboot myself if it came down to that.

 

if you notice tekken 7 share the same story beat as all it's previous installment and tekken 8 might be the same again

at least you've sense some storyline progressing between doa5 and 6

 

Honestly I will say "fuck that" to Dead or Alive 6. No way in hell can they make the Story Mode even better, it was almost like you would have to search for the right event in the timeline but it's very disjointed. How would they have not followed along Dead or Alive 5's Timeline Story when they wasted more on DLC Costumes and other Micro-transactions? Of course I will always disagree saying that Honoka is NOT the daughter of Raidou because they never even want to show who the mother of her really is, and honestly I don't give a shit. The ending of DOA6's Story caught me off guard as I was already saying "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, SHIMBORI!" after the credits, they really don't know if they're ever going to continue the story where Helena's mother is being kept in a cryo-tube and then NiCO just gets slapped by Helena and then somehow vanishes. What I really want in Dead or Alive 7 is a playable recap Storyline much like how Tekken 7 started with a young Kazuya trying to beat his father Heihachi before being thrown off the cliff. I want something similar to that except maybe have a young Kasumi and Ayane try and spar in a match and maybe have Kasumi take on Raidou from the event of the first DOA game and a few other events from later DOA games. Plus I think they should drop and lose the in-game currency because it really isn't needed to those that want to play DOA, a lot of those in-game costumes price are ridiculous, and releasing Ryu's DOA2 Outfit as well as Mila's Biker Gear aren't "free". I miss when you would just unlock the costumes in the game for free WITHOUT PAYING FOR IT. Especially how they made Zack's alien suit which was always a default in most DOA games PURCHASABLE IN DOA6. There's just no point at all that DOA need to have a micro-transaction for their fighting games. They would've gone back into Dead or Alive 5 and kept most of the formula that made it so popular, and give us a playable recap story that can easily tell the minds of fighting gamers to understand.

I loved DOA6's story. I feel like you are nitpicking a bit.

Look Dead or Alive 2: Ultimate was amazing, and it offered so much free content as a gold standard, but the game made no money. Team NINJA needs to be able to make money and microtransactions do that. Costume microtransactions alleviate the money lost from simply being a fighting game.

I've played a lot of Street Fighter and a lot of Tekken over my lifetime believe it or not; most of them are NOT GOOD games but they hit mainstream so it doesn't matter what you say about them because the sheep will come in droves at you like they mean something to society saying, "look how many people play are games." 95% of fighters don't have that.

And sex does sell if it's done right. You can thank dogshit Playstation for woke censorship in games. It's okay for big corpo giants to have sex allegations against them while censoring content for the peasants. See WWE, see Blizzard, see Sony, see EVO.

 

I loved DOA6's story. I feel like you are nitpicking a bit.

Look Dead or Alive 2: Ultimate was amazing, and it offered so much free content as a gold standard, but the game made no money. Team NINJA needs to be able to make money and microtransactions do that. Costume microtransactions alleviate the money lost from simply being a fighting game.

I've played a lot of Street Fighter and a lot of Tekken over my lifetime believe it or not; most of them are NOT GOOD games but they hit mainstream so it doesn't matter what you say about them because the sheep will come in droves at you like they mean something to society saying, "look how many people play are games." 95% of fighters don't have that.

And sex does sell if it's done right. You can thank dogshit Playstation for woke censorship in games. It's okay for big corpo giants to have sex allegations against them while censoring content for the peasants. See WWE, see Blizzard, see Sony, see EVO.

Everything about Dead or Alive 6's Story is still completely off, nowhere near as entertaining in Dead or Alive 5's Storyline. TMS Entertainment was involved with the Storyboard of the game, what do they have in mind with DOA? That's why Dead or Alive can never be adapted as an anime let alone have the live action film be the only adaptation to this very day. I'd still say no to micro-transaction because if they're going to raise up the price more, I might consider boycotting. Besides, what did they make this game for billionaires to spend 100 dollars on a Season Pass!? I don't think they're even worthy of DOA! I just feel bad for those that spend their money on DLC Characters that should already be in the game. If only Team NINJA can do a better job with Dead or Alive's scenario and originality without trying to change everything else so much that takes away the pride of many fighting gamers like myself.

 

Not sure but I think DOA5's story wasn't that particularly great either lol. Personally, I feel Tekken and DOA's current story was pretty damn abysmal in current time, but I think it's that people were probably too much expecting on some type of AAA writing which is pretty much copium at this point.

I was hoping they reboot that whole thing entirely actually. The old clone stories and Donovan being this mysterious dude for each installment is getting far too old that I might as well fall asleep and never touch any future story modes that's from DOA from here on out LOL. I was gonna be that guy and blame budget again, but their previous installments wasn't the best in that department either for story related. They just need better writers (least just my opinion) and it doesn't have to be some crazy heavy story driven game, but good enough where people can take it's characters and plot seriously.

On a fair note, most fighting games don't have really good story overall so DOA6 not doing so well on that wasn't a big surprise to me.

 

Not sure but I think DOA5's story wasn't that particularly great either lol. Personally, I feel Tekken and DOA's current story was pretty damn abysmal in current time, but I think it's that people were probably too much expecting on some type of AAA writing which is pretty much copium at this point.

I was hoping they reboot that whole thing entirely actually. The old clone stories and Donovan being this mysterious dude for each installment is getting far too old that I might as well fall asleep and never touch any future story modes that's from DOA from here on out LOL. I was gonna be that guy and blame budget again, but their previous installments wasn't the best in that department either for story related. They just need better writers (least just my an opinion) and it doesn't have to be some crazy heavy story driven game, but good enough where people can take it's characters and plot seriously.

On a fair note, most fighting games don't have really good story overall so DOA6 not doing so well on that wasn't a big surprise to me.

To me: Itagaki's narrative was gold; easily the best story in fighting games. Dead or Alive 2: Ultimate opening and Dead or Alive 4 ending was incredible, showed a lot of character depth and the story had a lot of wow factor like damn Ayane would really kill her own sister for running away from her responsibilities? Things like that stood out to me and were effective because I remembered them.

 

To me: Itagaki's narrative was gold; easily the best story in fighting games. Dead or Alive 2: Ultimate opening and Dead or Alive 4 ending was incredible, showed a lot of character depth and the story had a lot of wow factor like damn Ayane would really kill her own sister for running away from her responsibilities? Things like that stood out to me and were effective because I remembered them.

They need to at least recap those moments in Dead or Alive 7, at least make them playable so people would appreciate DOA's plot points in the first four games and make way for a better storyline to be written not like an anime.

 

I also appreciated DOA6's story for what it was (although it definitely had flaws imo).

If they were to re-work the story mode, I think that different "paths" for each character would be a good idea, like how DOA4 and previous games were. They could use this as a way to re-cap by having the player re-play important battles from each character's past (which is actually similar to how DOA Quest in DOA6 worked).

The difference I would like to see from DOA4 and the previous games, though, would be for every character's story path to be "canon". For example: you can't have an ending where Brad Wong, Zack, and Hayabusa all beat Bankotsubo/Genra/win the tournament. Some characters in the Itagaki era ended up getting shafted on character development because most of their battles weren't actually "canon".

I would like to see a story where each character gets a chance to shine, while also being able to fit into the larger picture. My one criticism of DOA6's story was that the characters weren't utilised as effectively as they could've been. Even characters that were given a lot of screen time in DOA6 weren't really afforded the opportunity to establish themselves as much as they could've.

 

Fighting games have stories?