On November 19th, 2015, developer Team Ninja announced that the latest installment in the Dead or Alive Xtreme series is receiving a release in Japan only and that the western release has been canceled. It was announced on the game’s Facebook page in response to a commenter asking about the western release, “We do not bring DOAX3 to the west and won’t have any plan change in the future. Thank you for asking.”
The developer of the game has not announced an official reason for cancelation, but some commentators have assumed that it may be due to fear of sexism. Since the announcement, the official Facebook page where the developers made the statement has been taken down. Some outlets and commenters seem to have other quotes from the page, but we can no longer know for sure.
The Dead or Alive series have always been controversial due to the design and depiction of the female characters, but Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (2003) brought this to the next level. It is often criticized for laying a thin veneer of respectability and legitimate gameplay over simply watching lusty, scantily-clad women with large, bouncing breasts jog, roll around in the sand, scoot across tree trunks, and other suggestive activities.
It comes as no surprise that the latest installment has had its western release canceled and commentators assuming that it is due to fear of sexism. Over recent years, there has been much controversy over the portrayal of female characters in video games. Many games often have in the past used female character design as a way of gaining publicity and getting people talking about the game.
It would seem that the announcement from the publisher has caused numerous companies to step forward looking for the rights to distribute the game. Since the controversy, developer HuniePot, creators of adult hybrid tile matching puzzle date sim, Huniepop has offered publisher Koei Tecmo one million dollars to gain the right to distribute Dead or Alive Extreme 3 in the west.
This offer was then followed up by Instacodez, who offered an extra two million dollars for rights to distribute the game within Europe. Despite it no longer having a Western release, the game appears to have much interest due to offers made by these companies for the rights to distribution of the game.
We may see a release of this game in the west and Europe but for now it is only going have a release in Japan on February 26th, 2016. It is going to be interesting to see if Koei Tecmo indeed do accept an offer from these companies or whether they will leave the game as a Japan-only release.
Image Sources: I Play PS Visa
