We've hammered Yohei Shimbori on his directions regarding DOA 6 quite a bit on the blog side of Doujins. In short, he messed up bad, then backpedaled to fix the situation. So we're good, right? Well, in a recent interview, he elaborated on a few things that should be discussed.
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YS: That being said, the damage on clothes has become less prominent. If we implement extensive clothes damage to the point that characters are almost left nude, it’s hard to sell the game in certain territories. [Dead or Alive] Xtreme 3 is a good example because we couldn’t sell it in Europe and North America.
Interviewer: Well, you could have if you wanted to…
YS: Individual retailers can refuse to carry the game. It’s really a big issue sales-wise. We started small, but there are options to adjust it [the costume break feature]. For now, we’re sticking to the minimum to be able to sell the game.
Interviewer: Do you mean that it could be adjusted to make it more prominent after release?
YS: Probably yes. That being said, Dead or Alive is not an ecchi game. We want to make a great game, and within that, you may also enjoy not just the combat, but also some sexiness.
Interviewer: I did notice that there are quite a few very revealing costumes.
YS: Of course. I’d like the fans to enjoy that, but please don’t talk too loudly about it. The more attention this draws, the less I can do it. If you really want to have nice costumes, please quietly enjoy them so we can keep making them.
Interviewer: I’m sure you play other fighting games. Have you played SoulCalibur VI?
YS: I have.
Interviewer: They went pretty far with the fanservice, and they seem not to have any problems…
YS: The reason why they can get away it is one of the big mysteries of the world. SoulCalibur can do it and doesn’t get a beating over it, but even when Dead or Alive doesn’t do it, it still gets criticized.
If anyone can tell me why this happens, and how to fix it, please introduce them to me [laughs].
Again, if people talk too much about it, others will come in and bash it. So just enjoy it and please trust me. I’ll make a nice game that the fans will be happy about.
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Like with IF and Tamsoft before them, pressure was being applied to make the game as not-sexy as possible. Gamers want the sexy, some people in the game industry don't want that. Then what's the point? It's supply and demand. The likes of Sony apparently don't care about what gamers actually want. I'll still give Nintendo crap for butchering great games to appease people who wouldn't have bought the games anyway, even if they have been surprisingly chill about not censoring games recently. But I digress.
Shimbori is saying that he'd love to keep the sexy going, as long as no one notices. He's also unclear as to how SC IV kept the sexy in without catching flack. Can Bandai Namco write an FAQ for them and others?
P.S. Yes, we know about Mortal Kombat 11's lack of their usual sexy costumes. Maybe we'll tackle it. I mean, Sonya and her daughter look really masculine.
