Dead or Alive 6 Last Round Project Manager Tsuyoshi Iuchi has sparked a debate inside the combating recreation neighborhood after explaining why the group at Koei Tecmo is dialing again on making horny costumes.
Dead or Alive is a combating recreation franchise with a fiercely loyal fanbase and a devoted aggressive scene. Regardless of these elements, it’s often known as the combating recreation collection with the most fanservice — a label that’s arduous to get away from, given the jiggle physics, dating-sim-heavy spinoff video games, and horny outfits that exist in abundance in nearly each DoA title.
Whereas Dead or Alive 7 is in energetic improvement, DoA 6 Last Round is nonetheless getting content material, together with a brand new character that was simply introduced yesterday. Minato’s addition to the roster hasn’t come with out controversy; some followers are accusing the schoolgirl of being a replica/paste of Honoka, whereas others are pointing towards a September 9 Famitsu interview that included some divisive remarks from the recreation’s improvement group.
Of those remarks, one is standing out from the relaxation: Project Manager Tsuyoshi Iuchi confirmed that Koei Tecmo is making the determination to step again from making extra horny outfits for Dead or Alive’s characters. This is a giant change for the franchise, and one which’s been met with backlash and confusion from its fanbase.
The rationale for this, Iuchi says, is as a result of gamers are “embarrassed” to make use of such costumes when enjoying competitively. (This isn’t an enormous shock; swimsuit-style costumes for feminine characters have been banned or restricted at quite a few esports tournaments throughout a number of totally different combating video games over the years.)
“I perceive that some persons are hoping for horny costumes, however truly, horny costumes are typically used much less ceaselessly in aggressive video games because of embarrassment and different elements. For instance, even in ranked matches, you do not typically see your opponents carrying swimsuit costumes, proper? This time, we’re aiming for costumes that ‘individuals who like that character will proceed to make use of,’ so the horny parts are naturally saved to a minimal,” he mentioned.
That’s not the solely remark that’s catching gamers’ eyes; Director Akihiro Nakamura additionally responded to Famitsu’s query concerning Minato’s moveset, which the outlet famous was strikingly just like Honoka’s.
“Whereas they each use the identical strategies, the key distinction lies of their backstory: Honoka has an innate capacity to immediately imitate any approach she sees, whereas Minato learns by learning by means of a tool and thru arduous work,” he defined. “Moreover, Honoka enjoys watching martial arts {and professional} wrestling, so she chooses strategies she likes as a pastime, whereas Minato learns strategies with the visible enchantment and pleasure of dance in thoughts.”
This reply, mixed with group’s determination to decelerate on horny costumes, has left the DoA neighborhood equal elements pissed off and dissatisfied, resulting in a wave of backlash from gamers on-line.
“What did we anticipate?” one fan wrote on X. “They do not care about the followers or the recreation. They need to shake a few extra {dollars} out of the neighborhood with bare-minimum effort. I can already see DOA7 not having crossplay or rollback [netcode] and Koei saying, ‘$80 bucks, please.’”
“What occurs when Minato fights Honoka? Is she going to steal her stolen strikes, too?” distinguished neighborhood member Emery Reigns said.
Even Japanese gamers aren’t pleased with Minato’s moveset, with one writing, “One other money seize? I shelled out for 6, however I can barely carry something over, cannot even change my hair colour not to mention energy up — it is truly worse off, is not it? Manner too disappointing.”
Guess its extra Dead than Alive
— Hikariko Nikushimi (@yamikoai) September 10, 2026
What occurs when Minato fights Honoka? She going to steal her stolen strikes too? 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/LaDPbpvV5m
— EmeryReigns (@EmeryReigns) September 9, 2026
Staff Ninja and Koei Tecmo have mugged off the Dead or Alive participant base past perception. Please learn this shit. pic.twitter.com/bFiivxq1v9
— Mike Hole (@RealMikeHollow) September 9, 2026
Dead or Alive 7 is nonetheless being developed, and it doesn’t have a launch date at the time of writing. Dead or Alive 6 Last Round acquired middling opinions on its launch in June, with many gamers — and even our personal reviewers at IGN — bemoaning the lack of rollback netcode and lack of cross-platform play on launch, leaving gamers hopeful that the group at Koei Tecmo will take their suggestions into consideration for its subsequent DoA title.