Dead or Alive 6 Clothing Damage Reduced To Appeal To Female Gamers, Says Shimbori

Dead or Alive 6 producer and director, Yohei Shimbori, recently attended an event in Taiwan and managed to speak with the rising Taiwanese gaming outlet, GNN, about some of the features and content of Dead or Alive 6, including the spec differences, some of the modes, characters, and the clothes damaging model. OAG says.

[NarutoFox]

I"f, however, the clothing damage was not reduced to appeal to female gamers, was it then due to Sony’s censorship policies?"

Umm this is a multiplatform game. Why would Sony have anything to do with it?

[Pantz]

Sony being the market leader could tell them to make all versions match their policy so they don't get singled out. That or it takes more time and money to make separate versions of the game so they just use the default version that complies with Sony's censorship policy.

[ApocalypseShadow]

This is how far trash sites like oneangrygamer.net are willing to go to spread nonsense about Sony. And conspiracy theorists willing to push their agenda of smear tactics to try and pull Sony down before next Gen starts.

Sony has no control on multiplatform releases. And DOA needs to stop relying on the girls to sell the game. The fight engine should be the most important part of the game. And they also should spend more time creating areas you go to from damaging walls, floors, balconies, etc.

How about it's because worldwide restrictions and policies are the reason and not Sony blogger.

[Pantz]

@McPopcorn refrencing one game from many years ago? Even recently Rainbow Six Siege censored all versions of their game in compliance with Chinese standards. After getting enough backlash for it they made separate versions of the game. The same kind of thing could be possible in this situation. Koei Tecmo has bent their knee for Sony for the past couple years so this would not be surprising at all.

[rainslacker]

I doubt the clothing damage would have fallen within their censorship policies. Even in past games, they were never really that extreme. They said before Sony's censorship policies came into effect, they were toning it down with the character models, so it's reasonable to think they'd also tone down the clothing damage.

[DillyDilly]

If Sony wants to be an ass thats fine but ruining it for other platforms & fans is stupid. I hope Developers start standing up to Sony. I know I would not buy a game if it came out that Sony is ruining things

[aaronaton]

Sony don't meddle in 3rdparty game development.

[cleft5]

I am sure all the female gamers will now jump all over this game lol. What a stupid move on their part. Just play to your audience and stop trying to appease everyone.

[Christopher]

Yeah! Stop trying to grow your possible audience! Just stick to the diminishing audience you have and like it!

[lucian229]

My wife is actually pissed they are censoring the game and reduced the breasts.

She liked doa before I did. On that note though, for the males maybe they should tone down the guy nips, it may offend us lol

[kreate]

@christopher

By sacrificing ur existing audience?

[spartan112g]

Apparently you guys haven't seen the games that have released on both Switch and PS4 with only the PS4 games have any kind of censorship. This has been an ongoing thing.

[TheHan]

Because they have to cater to more than one consoles policy. Even with Sony’s policy more strict now doesn’t mean they want to lose their fan base there. But you can still make all the other console versions with the armor fully destructive.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

C'mon now that's stupid

[stupidusername]

It makes sense.
If it were the other way around:
Would you feel any appeal to play a fighting game showing male fighters in skimpy clothes and whenever u hit them they lost some clothes close to them almost showing their di*k?

[Pantz]

What like this? http://cdn3.dualshockers.co...

[stupidusername]

@McPopcorn
So every visual aspect of a video game is okay to you because it’s a video game? Let’s say that Joel and Ellie wore bdsm outfits. Does that mean you wouldn’t care because it is a video game? It wouldn’t hurt the immersion or the story at all?
I’m not saying that DOA does something wrong or that they should censor anything. I’m just saying that girls probably like a game more if the game don’t force boobs and panties up in their face.

@Pantz
Yes. Does it appeal to you?
(Assuming you’re straight.)

[TeamIcoFan]

I actually would like that. >:3

[Pantz]

@stupidusername It does not appeal to me sexually, I am straight. It doesn't bother me either. I may even use skins like that on a male character just for fun. Male characters in fighting games generally show way more skin than female characters and their bodies are toned to be the pinnacle of sexiness that a male can be. It's such a double standard when they then censor female characters. My sister played Dead or Alive games in the past, including DOA Xtreme 2. She didn't have any problem with female video game characters in bikinis.

[Rachel_Alucard]

You know the female audience likes the sex appeal just as much as men. I have a few female friends that buy games like Senran Kagura and Neptunia and I know that's not an outlier. I think you are looking at the loud minority on sites like Twitter to make these judgements. Reducing it just hurts the product in the end. So no it doesn't make sense. It's Sony trying to remove casual sexualization based on the other censored content that's been shown.

[Yi-Long]

I honestly wouldn't care. Perhaps not everyone is as scared of the (semi) naked human body (be it male or female) as you seem to be...

[Sm00thNinja]

You're what's wrong either today's society of butthurt. Acceptance is not the key

[PapaBop]

Obviously never played my Voldo.. jokes aside, Ryu while hardly skimpy, had a bearded shirtless costume and even guys were referring to him as sexy Ryu. You then have Urien and his classic thong which nobody kicked up a fuss about.

[Casepb]

Makes sense!? In what fucking world does that makes sense?

[stupidusername]

I'm solely basing my assumption that girls would like less boobs and panties thrown in their face based on the girls I know. They might not be the majority - at least they don't seem to be suggesting by all the replies.
FIY: I don't mind nudity at all, and I'm not butthurt, so dont color me as a stupid white knight. The DOA girls could have sex with tentacle monsters at the end of each fight for all I care. But it's not my cup of tea.

[Christopher]

Yeah, how dare they want to obtain more gamers from a different demographic. Stupid developers, wanting to make more money and have more gamers play their games.

[Casepb]

You act like this tiny removal of a feature will actually attract more players... don't be so naive.

[Christopher]

Yes. I'm there naive one here.

[rainslacker]

Do you think something like that would bring in a large number of female gamers? There's nothing wrong with trying to grow ones audience, but alienating one's current audience isn't the way to do it.

The game still looks like it's "sexy" in it's presentation. Openly reducing the physical attributes which has been a cornerstone of the series, is going to be annoying to the userbase, but if it's not that bad, then fans will still play. If the devs keep pushing things which are annoying though, you get BFV.

Do you think that the devs and pubs of BFV would have preferred to keep their existing audience, or are they content with getting all those players from the different demographic....who apparently didn't buy the game either.

[Christopher]

***Do you think something like that would bring in a large number of female gamers? There's nothing wrong with trying to grow ones audience, but alienating one's current audience isn't the way to do it. ***

Obviously they think it will improve their overall audience. What I think doesn't matter, I don't have the market data. But I'm not going to knee-jerk react as if they're what's wrong with the industry when they 100% tell you what they're doing and why rather than scape-goat it some other way.

***Do you think that the devs and pubs of BFV...***

Tomatoes and oranges discussion here. Don't bring in issues not at all related considering this developer is being 100% honest with what they are doing and why.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Too little too late. Even if they were going for that audience the IP has already established who it appeals to, and people are into that. The ones who won't play a fighting game over sex appeal were not going to play the game in the first place. Trying to cut off your existing fanbase to chase after another that has no interest in you will never work as many times as they attempt it in the industry. Besides, any causal or FGC member will be immediately turned off by their disgusting costume pass prices and how most costumes are made for the female cast since those are the only ones that sell according to an admin in touch with them.

[Princess_Pilfer]

It's not a matter of sex appeal. It's how extreme it is. Those are different things. To keep it stricly in the DOA franchise even, there is a difference between Hitomi's Karate gi with a sports bra or tube top underneath that's visible but she's still mostly covered, or Ayanes skintight black armor suit she wears, and Kasumi going to battle wearing *litterally only a bow.* The orders of Magnatude there are different. They're not trying to remove sex appeal from anything I've seen (I mean, you still have Kasumi in her uber clevage loincloth thing as her base costume) They're just reducing the prevolance of Christies battle thong. type stuff.

[CorndogBurglar]

The problem with doing that is you risk your existing audience.

Anytime you have a product with a fanbase that you have gained from making a product a certain way you run the risk of losing their interest when you change something.

Sure, you might gain some new customers, but you might also lose some of your existing customers. Is that really worth the risk?

In this case I don't know that the change is important enough to either lose or gain any customers. At the end of the day it's still a fighting game that plays similarly to the previous ones. But when you look at recent games that have made pandering decisions like this (Battlefield 5) you see that it tends to turn off more of the existing customers without bringing in very many new ones.

[CorndogBurglar]

"***Do you think that the devs and pubs of BFV...*** 

Tomatoes and oranges discussion here. Don't bring in issues not at all related considering this developer is being 100% honest with what they are doing and why."

What do you mean? Dice and Battlefiled 5 were being honest too when said they were adding female characters and character models to the game to be more inclusive and appeal to a "bigger" audience. It's not really any different and their existing customers were already pissed about it before the released a statement. Fans were pretty made just from the reveal trailer. So it is pretty relevant.

[rainslacker]

There are a lot of things wrong with the industry nowadays, so I'm not saying it's 100%. I'm also not knee-jerking anything. While I appreciate you trying to bring a modicum of reason to the debate, I stand by my initial assertion, that there is no data to suggest that this is bringing in more players. There is more anecdotal data to suggest that this kind of stuff is beginning to alienate more players.

I'm sure there is market research for this stuff, but this sounds more like a general decision by the dev. Whether it's to avoid the ruffling of feathers that seems to come with each release of the game, or actually an attempt to attract more players I couldn't say. But reducing clothing damage doesn't seem like something that would really draw players in. I also don't think it's going to alienate the fan base to any significant degree on it's own. But this, coupled with them toning down the sex appeal of the character(although I still think they look fine), can start a steamroll effect, where the press and hype surrounding the game starts to turn towards the negative, and people have a tendency to start thinking that there is more to not like, than there is to like. It's just human nature for people to have knee-jerk reactions, and those reactions often stick.

"Tomatoes and oranges discussion here"

Is it? Both are issues of trying to appeal to a new audience.

I appreciate the dev being honest, instead of trying to take the high road like DICE did, but the end result doesn't change.

The question being posed though, is will it attract a new audience, and if so, is it also alienating the old audience. Something that can't be answered by unknown market research data. The reason I framed it the way I did was because you are positing that this will bring in more gamers, and later, state that they have market research, but I'm pointing out an example where another dev probably had that....if not more....and still came up short in sales. Granted, DICE handled that whole situation terribly, and the devs here are being more respectful about it.

[gamer7804]

Vote with your wallet, i am. Too many other good games coming out to support these politics

[Yi-Long]

I was already going to 'vote with my wallet' on DOA6, but that wasn't because of the self-censorship, buy because of the DLC greed we've seen from them with DOA5.

The self-censorship certainly helps that boycott though...

[masterfox]

I downloaded the demo some days ago, played a few online matches and delete it right away , it felt so damn generic , for me is one of those games that reeks: "Please stay away from me , please don't buy me" game.

[Movefasta1993]

The game will be riddled with dlc , dead or alive 4 was the best for me

[Casepb]

The DOA franchise has always been pretty trash.

[EliteComments123]

LOL

[PlayableGamez-]

Never heard of not get a game because of too much clothing damage.

[Christopher]

Probably because people just don't buy those games or post about not buying them ad nauseum online. I'm definitely not a fan, but I'm not comment on it regularly the same way I don't comment on sports or racing games, of which I am also not a fan.

[stupidusername]

The developers are also 100% research results. It’s not like they are censoring because they have a gut feeling that it will increase their audience. They clearly have a indication.
And if their audience boycots the game because they don’t get to see enough skin then their audience is total weirdoes imo. Got to be one of the stupidest reasons to boycot a game.

[babadivad]

You mean the female gamers who weren't going to buy this game anyway?

[Princess_Pilfer]

That's not necessarily true. Women are only like 5-10% of the audience for fighting games, that is true, but it's *enitrely possible* most of that 5-10% potential audience that's there avoids DOA and they're working to change that. I don't have the marketing data so I don't know, but if you think you can manage 2-8% sales bump by catering to women a little better *and* keep your existing audience that's a good buisness move. Do you expext 1 in every 10-20 male gamers to not buy the game beacuse you get to see slightly less of Ayanes clevage?

[DillyDilly]

Bring on the flopping sale reports

[Hungryalpaca]

So change things the series is known for to try and appeal to a smaller demographic?....

They’re just boobs dude. They’re not going to hurt you.

[gamer7804]

Survey from the last game doa5, team ninja said otherwise, which is why they put the sexy back. No survey for #6, at least not yet

[SlagWolf]

5 to 10% lol.
You are being way to generous.
I think you mean 1 to 2% and even that’s being pretty generous

[babadivad]

DoA 3 was a great game. Played the shit out of that one. Didn't really follow the series after that.

[Movefasta1993]

Doa 4 was my first nd loved it , saw the crap load of dlc on 5 and stayed clear of it

[CorndogBurglar]

Wasn't DOA5 free to play?

I know it was still an insane amount of DLC, even for a free to play game. But I suppose it makes a LITTLE better....maybe? Free to play games have to make money somehow. I'm just not sure that making everyone spend $5 for each character while only releasing with 2 free ones is smart. Let alone the countless overpriced costume DLC's.

Ah well, I suppose it doesn't matter. If that model had been even remotely more successful than a non-free to play model then they would have gone that route with this new one also. Looks like it didn't make them as much money as they hoped.

[Smokehouse]

How does he know the female gamers don’t like it too? The Cosplayers sexifying normal costumes, the anime weeb girls making money shot faces on Instagram? Where are these females that would play DOA if it weren’t for the outrage over clothing damage? I don’t really care but I’m not buying it, sounds like some BS to me.

[Christopher]

Companies do this thing called market research.

[Smokehouse]

And how many of them are competent at it? Common sense tells you those nerdy girls I mentioned are more likely to play DOA than some random chick on the street. Market research has been one nose dive after another these last few months. And then they blame the market for the backlash lol. “You don’t have phones?! You entitled pricks!”. I think it’s funny honestly.

[Christopher]

They're almost all more competent at it than the people here.

Common sense tells you that you only have anecdotal and biased data rather than a larger set of data from a more diverse data set.

[ginganinja]

They also have the game data from every console/pc that is connected online. They could determine the most popular game modes, characters, outfits, etc.

[Smokehouse]

Well then show the market research. Are the scantily clad the least used characters? What are the questions? Who was asked? I have biased data how? Because people that dress up as the characters might actually play the games instead of some random woman on survey monkey? Tainted data, doesn’t fit the female equation? The spreadsheets have spoken lol.

I just doubt the reasoning and baseline behind decisions sometimes. It’s almost like ignorant marketing has lead some astray and killed franchises/studios. The “it’s their job” statement isn’t an answer to be smug about.

“They have the data” ok what’s the market data? What’s the target? Not everyone is good at their job. Some data is obvious, some data is useless. The game industry has a history to reference and ripe failures with marketing lol. Those wounds are still fresh.

I’m not pretending to be a marketing expert but I’m also not convinced by a job title. The infallible research marketers. If there is data that suggests there is a waiting audience then so be it. Good for them. I’m just saying it sounds like bullshit to me lol. If you disagree that’s fine.

After the beta I’m going to skip, I didn’t like the button layout. It seems accessible to more people though as far as fighting games go. A counterpunch kind of game.

[ginganinja]

@Smokehouse
The data as in what people are playing. While your playing your PC/console online the game could be set up to send data back to the devs with regard to what you're playing, how you're playing, etc.

It might just be simple stuff like which characters you're using, how often you play which game modes, etc, and I have no idea if it's done or not in this case, but it's a much more accurate reflection of what is working and not than trawling through comment sections and forums where the loudest people hold sway.

[rainslacker]

Market research is great and all, but where is the evidence that games sell better because they remove things like destructible clothing, or because they include a plain jane, or include an unremarkable female protagonist.

Does this same market research also say how much of their audience they might lose due to this whole pandering to audiences that don't buy games becoming annoying beyond belief, and growing with every instance of stuff like this.

DOA5 made millions off of sexy outfits. People brought that stuff up for years after the games release. That's a lot of customers to try and capture to make up that revenue because of lost customers that actually might like that kind of stuff.

If there is evidence that this stuff is attracting more female players, and not alienating the current fan base, then why not say so? Seems like it'd make a strong case for the pubs/devs that want to do this stuff. They have no problem making stuff up to promote their reasons for pushing digital so hard, so why is this any different. The only evidence I've heard that this is working, is also anecdotal, and there is a rather recent example of a game which lost a lot of customers because of pandering.

Imagine if GTA decided to go less offensive against females. Do you really think that people would respect that, or that it'd draw in a lot of players?

Sorry, but there is more logical reason, and more anecdotal evidence that this isn't working, than that it is. Female gamers as a whole has remained relatively steady across the board...around 51-52% across all platforms, about 22% on consoles.

The problem isn't the presentation of these games which is keeping female players from noticing. It's because the type of games they are is generally more appealing to the male gender. Fighting, shooting, action, etc, are predominately things that drive testosterone, which is a stronger driving force for men, than women.

[Christopher]

***Market research is great and all, but where is the evidence that games sell better because they remove things like destructible clothing, or because they include a plain jane, or include an unremarkable female protagonist. ***

Wow. Lots to unpack there and I don't think you even realize it.

As far where is the data? In their hands where it belongs and not for the public, like almost every other market research data out there.

And, honestly, Wow, the topic is about having "less destructible" clothing, but you went full on with completely removing it, having 'plain looking' women, and the like. That's some gross exaggeration of what was said and some telling info on you bringing in preconceptions on this into the argument.

***Does this same market research also say how much of their audience they might lose due to this whole pandering to audiences that don't buy games becoming annoying beyond belief, and growing with every instance of stuff like this. ***

Wow, some more preconceived notions. The marketing research probably does include the pros and cons of changes. But, to call this pandering to audiences that don't buy games when there are people here arguing that the desired audience likes it the way it is let alone that the all marketing research have proven that female gaming on consoles is steadily on the rise...

***DOA5 made millions off of sexy outfits.***

It did? Care to provide those figures?

*** there is evidence that this stuff is attracting more female players, and not alienating the current fan base, then why not say so?***

I think he just did. I think him just saying that would get the exact same response as well. It seems some male gamers can't deal with changes is more the issue, IMHO, than the fact that developers want to change to get a broader audience themselves. I'm not even saying this is a BF5 issue, because it isn't. The developer was 100% honest as to what they are doing (reducing clothing destruction, not removing it) and why (because they wanted to get more female gamers). But, even with 100% honesty, it's an issue. Why is it an issue? Because an extreme minority of male gamers can't accept change?

[gamer7804]

funny you mention that @Christopher. Actually during DOA5's launch they did a huge customer survey which I was a part of, this was one of the many things they surveyed. Because of this survey they said specifically they decided to turn up the sex appeal as it was what the survey resulted in and they wanted to please their fans.

This time around for DOA6 there has been no survey, and no turn around in bring the sexy back. Its been toned down in all aspects so far.

[Hungryalpaca]

How’d that market research go for battlefield V

[rainslacker]

Maybe it wasn't millions. But they were making costume packs, and had high player engagement for years after this game released. I think they just did the last costume pack was released sometime early last year. That's 5 years of DLC for a game which released in 2012. They weren't particularly cheap costume packs either.

This devs hope that it attracts more female players, and doesn't alienate the base, isn't proof that this doesn't happen. There is more anecdotal evidence of other games which try to appeal to different target audiences which end up suffering, or seeing no significant increase that can't be explained by other means.

I honestly don't think the changes in this game so far are really going to affect sales that much. It's not extreme enough to turn away most of the fan base. It also didn't really dial back the sexy. It'll probably still have an above average story for a fighting game. Seen mixed reviews on early impressions, but I take those with a grain of salt, but that will likely have more of an effect than this, or the toning down of the characters.

But what its coming down to is people are getting annoyed that this stuff is happening, because they are fans of this, and other games. People automatically think it's less of what they want if it doesn't include what they're used to. Personally, I like the game because it's fun, and I'm sure many feel the same way, so these things won't really change so long as the core of the game remains in tact. But, it doesn't take much to cross the line of what people are OK with, to what is something they aren't willing to accept. Luckily, this dev at least seems to be respectful towards the audience, and hasn't lashed out when people question their motivations like many devs do in these situations. So, if anything, this is probably a good instance to look at for other devs to see how to treat their customers...instead of telling them to F off, or trying to shame them for their criticism.

I'm not trying to be over-argumentative, but all the instances of these kinds of things are related. Each one builds upon the other, and the more it goes on, the more annoyed the customers are getting, because it's like what we think, or what we may want is less of a concern to these devs. In an effort to attract more customers, they're telling their current customers or fans that what we want isn't important. This isn't like the BFV situation exactly, but to say they're completely unrelated is just avoiding the bigger topic at play here.

[Smokehouse]

@ginganinja

I understand that but how do you come to any of these conclusions with gameplay data? How do you get girls don’t want clothing damage from character usage? The feedback comes from the social communities and the forums. Like event hubs for the FGC for example. Sometimes they try to broaden and that’s perfectly acceptable but why you would target anyone but your loyal base first is beyond me. Bend over for some random sect on twitter. That’s stupid shit, dumb business.

[ginganinja]

As I said, I have no idea how they came to this precise conclusion, but they'll have had playtests, betas, etc and been able to measure how it's used and whether changing it had much effect. Maybe a significant share of women players avoided the damage in its more extreme mode, but changing it didn't alter the behaviour of male players much.
Maybe a significant portion of the games loyal base is women, and they want to strengthen that, while maintaining the men too. For all the talk of the bouncing boobs and bikinis, a lot of the outfits for 5 were as much about fun as exposing flesh.

[Smokehouse]

I don’t play doa so I can’t really speak on their style or fan base or what they want. Betting your game on 50 fresh Q&A testers would be kinda dumb as well imo.

I am a Mortal Kombat fan and it kinda went through the same thing. I can agree the outfits of mkx were better than over the top 9 outfits. The tone down didn’t draw in more females but they did look better imo. There is nothing wrong with attractive and flaunting women if it fits the character.

I can agree that mk9 Sonya having nothing on under her vest, titties all hanging out to be kinda dumb lol. I was ok with it but I think the Cassie primary looked better and she didn’t show any skin. She looked military and fight ready. Mileena makes sense to have her titties out. Kitana can look more regal and still show skin like mkx. Characters can have different character and flavor, it’s fine. It’s what fighting games are about.

I would like to see clothing and body damage in MK11. In mk9 there were challenges where your arm got hacked and couldn’t perform certain special moves. That kind of stuff is great imo.

[Rachel_Alucard]

There's an admin on the official steam discussions that communicates with TN. He has said the only costumes that sell were the female ones, hence why there were so many of them. You can also look back to when they announced DOA5 and people actually wanted them to increase the breast size rather then attempt to reduce it, they were surprised by this feedback. All I'm getting is it seems they are out of touch and reading too much complaints since that's the only type of people who leave feedback on things.

[ginganinja]

@Rachel_Alucard
What I'm saying is there's more to the costumes than just bikinis. There's themed sets, anime tie-ins, design contests, etc. Which all appeal to a wider audience than the stereotypical lech panting over the size of their cleavage.
It this audience is one that's investing a lot of time and money in the series long-term, then why wouldn't you do what you can to strengthen that ?

[WitcheRivia]

Dead on Arrival 6

[DarXyde]

Eh.

It's clothing damage. If it doesn't impact gameplay, I couldn't care less if it was omitted entirely.

[gamer7804]

So all things other than gameplay hold no value? Wow, feel bad for all those writers and 2d/3d artists....

[DarXyde]

Way to generalize.

I'm talking about a very specific issue. I have a deep appreciation for aesthetics, but the fact that clothing damage has been mitigated--and because it's unlikely to affect gameplay--it's not a concern of mine. If I'm being candid, I think it's embarrassing that degree of clothing damage in a fighting game is deal-making/deal-breaking. Be honest, the people who are upset are probably in this for the fan service (and if so, that's what DOA Xtreme is for).

Let me ask you this: does car damage in Gran Turismo really matter if the damage is purely cosmetic? If it has no bearing on how the car handles, does it matter at all whatsoever?

[gamer7804]

@DarXyde you used a bad pronoun reference then if you were only talking about a certain instance. That said, where do you draw the line? Almost all things aesthetically do not affect the gameplay itself. The problem with this censorship issue is that it becomes the straw that breaks the camel's back. We have to start drawing lines or things gets worse. DOA has pulled many things back visually, not just the clothing damage is really the issue. When all of these things combine it starts to lose a bit of what made it different. You then go on thats what DOA Extreme is for, but that itself has also been censored and flat out not released in the states. I also highly doubt the island dlc modes from DOA5 will make an appearance in DOA6.

All this said, sure these things aren't the end of the world and have varying levels of importance to different people, but the principles here can apply to other things you might enjoy, such as shooters, violence, storytelling etc.

[DarXyde]

I wasn't talking about a specific instance. I'm talking about a specific issue.

As far as where I draw the line, I think I was apparent-- in case I wasn't, I draw the line where gameplay is impacted. If characters took more damage with nothing damage, I would be a bit disheartened by this because they're mitigating a gameplay- changing mechanic. To illustrate, imagine playing the original Need for Speed Most Wanted. You run over a spike strip. If your tires popped and your handling stays the same, it makes no difference to me if they include the animation for destroyed tires or not. But you see, the spike strip DOES mess with your handling, and so, if they said "we're going to reduce the amount of damage your car receives when you pop your tires", that would warrant my frustration. So to answer your question, I draw the line where gameplay is affected.

DOAX may be censored, but it can be imported: PS4 is region free. As for censorship in general, I feel that, in order to be considered censorship, developers must be coerced into revising their content by platform holders (Sony in most cases). From what I can tell, this was a decision of KT's own volition to appeal to another demographic. If Sony is forcing this and we find out Sony is forcing this, I would agree that's not cool.

And actually, the presence or absence of violence or narrative has never been particularly high on my list of concerns. I play a lot of games that aren't gratuitous in its use of violence or lack any serviceable narrative. Not a fan of shooters either. I realize these are examples, but I'm just letting you know.

[TheColbertinator]

KT doesn't realize many female gamers like DOA anyway. The fanservice costumes are often ridiculous but the female characters actually have dynamic stories as to why they are in the fighting tournament DOA.

They don't know who they cater to anymore because they are afraid.

[Rachel_Alucard]

The amount of females I've seen showing off their Senran Kagura, Neptunia, Fate go, and Gran blue merch in the states and overseas is pretty staggering. Not to mention how much successful Fate Go has been for Sony ironically.

[Princess_Pilfer]

This is called observation bias. You don't see all the girls *not* doing that, but when those who do stick out and are given more weight in your mind than all the times you don't see it. Don't feel bad, it happens to everybody,, it's part of the psychology of humans as a species, but the result is that your (and my, and everyone elses) specific experience of what women gamers do and do not like cannot be used as evidence of anything.

[Rachel_Alucard]

@princess

You have no idea what you're talking about. Sex appeal and women go hand in hand. Women love feeling sexy in game and in real life, I don't have observation bias because its not limited to only games. Go outside more.

[Princess_Pilfer]

For 1 you didn't actually address anything I said. For 2, Have, uh, have you read my screen name sweetie? I *know* women like to feel sexy. But there are degrees. And context matters. After all, it's, at least in this country, perfectly legal to wear a bikini-thong or one of those 1 piece swimsuits that's basically just some bits of string litterally everywhere. But even if you go to the beach in the summer where such a thing might be expected, those aren't terribly common. Now why do you think that is?

I bet you it's because women have different tolerances for levels of sexy that are acceptable in public than for in private. I bet it's beacuse to some (ie most) women sexy isn't just a lack of clothes or extremely skimpy clothes but rather especially flattering clothes. I bet you there are a dozen more reasons (not wanting to be stared at, for example) why something might be *too* sexy, or just too skimpy and exiting out of what that woman considers sexy and into what that woman considers tacky.

I didn't mention Hitomi's semi-open Karate Gi with that sports bra/tube top underneat in another comment on a whim. That is my favorite costume in the whole series. Specifically because it's sexy *without* devolving into being tacky.

[Christopher]

Of course, the guy who has all the data on who does or doesn't like his games as well as marketing research on the topic and others doesn't know what female gamers want, but people on N4G without any of that do.

[TheColbertinator]

@Christopher

Now you understand. No matter how you many times you seem right,until I say otherwise you are all wrong.

[ILostMyMind]

Just let the dicks swing.

[lillekolibri]

Pre-order cancelled.

[Yi-Long]

My girlfriend is a girl. She always liked the Dead or Alive series, often stating characters in other fighting games are 'too ugly'/unappealing. She likes both the men and girls in DOA, and never minded them being 'sexy' or whatever. She liked the gameplay, the character design, and the 'sunny' outfits...

[Relientk77]

"My girlfriend is a girl."

Love this lol

[TheColbertinator]

My car is a vehicle

[Christopher]

I'm loving this thread.

Gamers: Stop telling developers what to do, just let them do what they want, it's their game!

Also gamers: Stop doing what you want if it means appealing to gamers I don't understand!

[Rachel_Alucard]

I'm pretty sure no dev wants to censor their work, and based on his refusal to speak on such matters I can say it's probably the same reason the other Jap devs refuse to speak on the same subject. Also, you are assuming it's an attempt to appeal to other demographics when they've already gone back on almost all of the censorship complaints made around on the initial reveal. The uproar from their stance died down but that amount of people against their direction is no minority.

[AK91]

So the PC version will end up being the only one that is truly uncensored due to mods just like SF5.

[Heavenly King]

the funny thing is that nobody cares if the dudes are the ones almost naked. RELOL

[gamer7804]

Yup game is nerfed like i thought. Vote with wallet either way you choose. This doesn't look much different than the previous and has stuff stripped out

[Casepb]

Haha, yeah never in the history of anything has that worked, or will ever work. You can't take out one little thing that's appealing to males and think that females will all of a sudden have an interest in it simply because you removed it. Shit doesn't work that way. If a female was never interested in the game before, no fucking way will this change their opinion.

[Ninver]

Funny thing is by doing this, some where out there they've lost fans and gained none lol. Dev's love learning the hard way.

[gamer7804]

I was a big doa fan and bought every game. but not supporting sjw politicking

[etebitan]

my girlfriend loves the sexy girls and says the sluttier the better.. if he really said that he is generalizing a demographic which is pretty stupid..

[JokerBoy422]

Yes, because this franchise has always been a huge sell to women and been the number one demographic. Lol, the games industry is screwed if this keeps escalating...

[Zenbaby369]

What about les...

[ToeKisser]

They don't buy or play these type of games. This is like trying to cater gay porn to the straight men just by adding a woman next to the two men having intercourse. No straight guy will buy that, just how no women will play DOA Just cause they reduced the damage to clothing.

[Firebird360]

Guess I'll buy doa 5 now.

[PhoenixUp]

Don’t the men also get clothing damage? How does reducing exposure of male skin appeal more to female gamers?

[Rachel_Alucard]

Double standards. Men don't care, just deal with it, women complain if they feel threatened on an emotional level. That's why no man on earth will ever target romance novels for portraying men in unrealistic standards like women have been to fictional characters.

[nommers]

But what about lesbians? Now you’re not including them and their preferences. Oops 😬

[BadElf]

Shimbori...the game is going to fail.

Keep saying this type of garbage lol

[McGamer]

I think it is so pathetic that developers are being bullied into changing their games because of social-media terrorists. If women are offended by the game, GO PLAY SOMETHING ELSE.

[ginganinja]

They aren't being bullied, they're changing it because they hope it'll make them more money. No-one is saying anyone would be offended, they're saying they believe this makes the game more appealing to this section of the market.

If you're offended by this..

[Tetsujin]

So what about the women who play for the pink team (lesbian)? Where's their option?

[tochi]

First, I cannot represent DOA fans by any means, OK? However, after having some interesting discussions in Japanese DOA forums, I came to believe that the controversy surrounding DOA6 censorship are results of misunderstandings. It has nothing to do with SJW things, in my opinion.

Believe it or not, the boob jiggling and damage physics of thong bikinis are not popular in current DOA online beach volley game. A lot of dedicated fans hate those features, and if you play the game you will immediately understand why. An exaggeration of body parts and movements no longer fits to current high-polygon models. For me, once signature expression of breasts looks grotesque on already realistic polygon model in the game. There are optional slide bars to adjust those features, and a lot of people turned to minimize effect simply because characters look more realistic without it. I think that was why Koei had to remove the jiggling and unnatural physics from DOA6, since they are using the same modeling.

A realistic character modeling automatically 'censored' unnatural mechanics of movements, not SJW.
That is my thought. And one more thing. I heard many preferring smaller breasts in order to fit realism of new polygon models. I agree with them, seriously.

[ginganinja]

And if you think about it, it's understandable. Things like boobs and damage are novelties. They make headlines and attract attention initially, but if that's all DOA was, you'd be fairly bored and move on quite quickly.
They want to make sure the base game is right for their core audience who are going to continue playing this years down the line as one of their main games, picking up season passes for costumes, keeping the online viable, etc

[gamer7804]

well sure its a fighting game first which is great, but on principal I don't like these sjw stripping out or toning down something that was iconic to the series. You can have a great fighting game and the sex appeal. Its the principle of the matter to alot of fans.

[Pantz]

Before pushing agenda, I'd suggest to at least learn the actual name of the current "DOA online beach volley game" that you speak of.

[bigmalky]

Large breasts are also realistic. By God, have you ever opened your eyes in the real world?

[KaoSouL]

Makes perfect sense when 99.9% of your audience is guys... I can only think of one girl off the top of my head who's in the competitive DOA scene.

[Atomicjuicer]

Privacy tool on that site is utter garbage - pity, I would have bookmarked.

[Inzo]

"Dead or Alive 6 Clothing Damage Reduced To Appeal To Female Gamers, Says Shimbori"

All 10 of them? Because unless this is a mobile game not many women are going to pick this up.

Good bye DoA, you will be missed.

[DillyDilly]

Sounds more like Censorship

[Samus707]

Translation: Men, we are not loyal to you after all these years. We are now interested in pleasing censorious feminists posing as game journalists because we are afraid and unwilling to stand up for our customer base.

[DFresh]

Most female gamers are casuals.
Why are they appealing to a demographic that doesn't play games often?
Most of the DOA fan base are men not women.
So dumb.
Hopefully if there's a PC version modders will release patches for better jiggle effects, full nudity and better ripped clothing effects.

[InTheZoneAC]

If this was even true it was to appeal to male gamers