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[Warxard]

Let's see:
1. The text in the game is already being localised for the Asian version;
2. Voice acting is the vast majority of what remains, in a game with (if the originals are any indication) a very, very limited script. They could stick to subs if they want to go cheap.
3. Going digital-release-only in the West would mean that the potential expense of manufacturing and publishing and the risks involved are gone
4. DoA5 was very successful in the west
5. DoA5 sold tons of DLC bikinis in the west, which is surely the model DoAX3 will use. There's no reason to believe it wouldn't be as successful a business model, let alone not successful enough to make back the meagre localisation costs
6. The internet and DoA5 fans online have clearly been hyped for this game, and there has been plenty of discussion (and extremely positive feedback) on all major western gaming boards. There's a decent-sized audience in the west anticipating the game, TK know this through social media.

How does it make sense not to release it? It doesn't, and therefore I'm inclined to believe their answer.

1. Consider NA/EU localizations to different EU languages. Europe is the west. Not everyone knows English.
2. CVs still have to be paid for their voices being sold overseas.
3. Point
4. No it wasn't. DOA5 going F2P so soon after launch is an after effect of DOA5 doing poorly. The shit releases of DOA4, DOAX2 really harmed the brand. Remember when TN tried to go straight with the image of DOA to be respected as a fighting game and failed, well:
5. This is why the above is important to note. DOAX3 is a retail title.
6. Still an incredibly small audience that doesn't warranting localization to NA/EU.

They don't want another bomb. Csimple as that.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Well we know you guys took legos from boys once this year, so boobs would be the obvious escalation of that attitude.

Hurr hurr

 

[sephi22]

Now we both know more than some random tumblr post will happen. Kotaku and polygon alone will have a field day

That's what I assumed from the headline too. Dragon's crown was called out on its content when it came out and I believe a shitstorm would have followed DOAX3. Then again, I don't know much about the development side of the industry, and if K-T did not bring it here because of financial reasons then nevermind. But I'm one of the gullible people who would have believed what this tweet said had I not come into the thread.

 

[Coolio McAwesome]

Do you HONESTLY believe that's why it's not coming West? Some Twitter complaints?

Here's a question that DOA producers were asked last year regarding DOA5:

GamesBeat: In the West, the games industry is going through an extremely volatile time when it comes to sexuality and gender representation in games. Dead or Alive is one of the medium’s prime examples of females being overtly sexualized. Is this controversy on Team Ninja’s radar? If so, what’s your viewpoint on these issues?" SOURCE

In review: Journalists have acknowledged how extremely volatile the landscape is and publishers have acknowledged the controversy as well. It's ridiculous and disingenuous to pretend that things aren't volatile.

 

[Kimawolf]

So are you saying that Dead or Alive 6 will not be released on West ?

it'll be released, but the current climate around women in games is pretty bad. Lets not forget the Street Fighter 5 nonsense that went on and the DOA 5 crap. I think some people should... relax, play what you want and stop trying to tell people what they should or shouldn't play.

Keep the moral outrage for things that matter, not videogames T and A..

 

[ugh_the_boot]

Ok I know now

Spoiler

why you cry

but why would SJWs stop them from releasing a game unless those SJWs actually worked for a classification board?

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

This is facetious. You know well that what they're afraid of is a media blowup accusing them of being anti-feminist, anti-modern-western-values, and in the worst case scenario profiting off sexualising (fictional) underage girls.

Those kinds of accusations could certainly be something the company, and the employees within, do NOT want to deal with for any amount of money. It's not the 17 year olds on Tumblr they're thinking about.

Pfft, what media blowup? You'd just a few articles about it, but that's it, this isn't some new game, it's part 3 of a series, a spinoff of another series, well known for it's T&A. What are they going to say that hasn't been said about the series to date?

 

[SolidSnakex]

I will say that Polygon is basically viewed as public enemy #1 for many when it comes to issues like this, but looking over their articles on this game, they're about as neutral as you can be. All they do is post about what was announced without making any judgements about the game itself

http://www.polygon.com/2015/9/19/9356129/dead-or-alive-xtreme-3-release-date-playstation-vr
http://www.polygon.com/2015/8/3/9091211/dead-or-alive-xtreme-3-team-ninja
http://www.polygon.com/2015/10/15/9541473/dead-or-alive-xtreme-3-gameplay-video

 

[charlequin]

Now we both know more than some random tumblr post will happen. Kotaku and polygon alone will have a field day

You're right, sorry, a 17-year-old will write a mean tumblr post and a couple name-brand video game blogs will post some cranky articles that we know from historical experience will have no negative impact whatsoever on actual sales, so... again, if a game release were going to be profitable why would the publisher skip it over this, exactly?

 

[Some Nobody]

1.) They're not going to lose very much business from this.

2.) "Too sexist, how about too sexy" is both hilarious and stupid at the same time.

3.) If K-T really didn't want the publicity from releasing a game like this, I don't blame them. But I don't think its that serious. You'd get a thinkpiece or two and then it'd blow over. The reality is I don't think this game sells enough. The folk that would buy it will pay to import it, no question.

4.) I'm curious as to if this guy loses his job, or is the whole company about that life? Sad if so.

 

[Ultimadrago]

Is the Japanese version going to have English text, too?

No.

Has there been any official word on this yet? Because I've been waiting to hear/see one.

 

[Ferrio]

The game would stir up a lot. There's been far less offending games that have gotton kickback. To think a game where it's sole purpose is to stare and jerk off to virtual tits wouldn't see the same if not worse response is silly. In additiona it's a very niche product that won't generate many sales, ya I'm not surprised if they wanted to play it safe.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

That's what I assumed from the headline too. Dragon's crown was called out on its content when it came out and I believe a shitstorm would have followed DOAX3. Then again, I don't know much about the development side of the industry, and if K-T did not bring it here because of financial reasons then nevermind. But I'm one of the gullible people who would have believed what this tweet said had I not come into the thread.

You're not gullible at all. Koei brings all their games over the niche of the niches. I fail to see how this a well known series would be any different other than the fact the climate has changed here and something like what they are going for would get to much heat

 

[TriAceJP]

wait what are the sides?

The so-called SJW getting the game shelved for a Western release and Play-Asia being twats about it.

 

[Jigorath]

That's what I assumed from the headline too. Dragon's crown was called out on its content when it came out and I believe a shitstorm would have followed DOAX3. Then again, I don't know much about the development side of the industry, and if K-T did not bring it here because of financial reasons then nevermind. But I'm one of the gullible people who would have believed what this tweet said had I not come into the thread.

And Dragon's Crown was a big success in the West. I guess the evil feminists and SJWs didn't manage to destroy it's sales by daring to raising a controversial opinion.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

I will say that Polygon is basically viewed as public enemy #1 for many when it comes to issues like this

Public enemy #1 when it comes to... gender equality?

 

[Platy]

it'll be released, but the current climate around women in games is pretty bad. Lets not forget the Street Fighter 5 nonsense that went on and the DOA 5 crap. I think some people should... relax, play what you want and stop trying to tell people what they should or shouldn't play.

Keep the moral outrage for things that matter, not videogames T and A..

So the "nonsense" and "crap" are not "moral outrage" ?

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

SJW is such a stupid term and has become a new bogeyman for several people on the internet. It really doesn't mean shit.

Anyone that uses the term SJW but backs down the minute that viewpoint starts being questioned is just doing it because they don't like the current situation.

Anyon that uses SJW in the broader sense is telling the world that they could fall anywhere in the prejudice spectrum.

 

[Griss]

DOA5 being "very successful" in the west sounds very unlikely. Any proof?

The vanilla version alone sold over 500 thousand copies, the majority of which, I believe, were in the West. This is due to the fact that Vanilla and Ultimate only released to about 20k sales each in Japan on their opening weeks. Suggests most of the sales are coming from the west.

It was successful enough to lead to FOUR versions of the game being released in the West, and three years of DLC content being produced. There's no way any of that happens if the game isn't doing great.

1. Consider NA/EU localizations to different EU languages. Europe is the west. Not everyone knows English.
2. CVs still have to be paid for their voices being sold overseas.
3. Point
4. No it wasn't. DOA5 going F2P so soon after launch is an after effect of DOA5 doing poorly. The shit releases of DOA4, DOAX2 really harmed the brand. Remember when TN tried to go straight with the image of DOA to be respected as a fighting game and failed, well:
5. This is why the above is important to note. DOAX3 is a retail title.
6. Still an incredibly small audience that doesn't warranting localization to NA/EU.

They don't want another bomb. Csimple as that.

They don't have to localise it into European languages if they don't want to. If they do, they can turn the text into Spanish, French, German, sub the English voice-overs (if they even bother to do that) and call it a day. That's not a huge effort required here. This isn't an RPG. This is as easy a game as you could possibly localise, and as others have pointed out KT are no strangers to bringing over niche games that require far more advanced localisation.

And yes, see above, DoA5 was very successful in the west as far as I can tell. I'm still looking for concrete numbers.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

it'll be released, but the current climate around women in games is pretty bad. Lets not forget the Street Fighter 5 nonsense that went on and the DOA 5 crap. I think some people should... relax, play what you want and stop trying to tell people what they should or shouldn't play.

Keep the moral outrage for things that matter, not videogames T and A..

Nobody gives a fuck about this game. Anyone gullible enough to think hypothetical complaints about it were enough to make KT execs decide not to release it here is

1) delusional
2) not up on DOA sales

DOAX as a game is much less viable than DOA, reviews worse, sells even worse.

 

[AnkiRendan]

I chuckled at the kyaaa thing and now I'm chuckling at how many people won't buy from them anymore.

 

[Ferrio]

And Dragon's Crown was a big success in the West. I guess the evil feminists and SJWs didn't manage to destroy it's sales by daring to raising a controversial opinion.

I doubt they're worried about sales being affected, more about image. It was never going to fly off the shelves to begin with.

 

[Warxard]

You're not gullible at all. Koei brings all their games over the niche of the niches. I fail to see how this a well known series would be any different other than the fact the climate has changed here and something like what they are going for would get to much heat

Because this well known series has been selling like shit.

 

[ZoddGutts]

That's what I assumed from the headline too. Dragon's crown was called out on its content when it came out and I believe a shitstorm would have followed DOAX3. Then again, I don't know much about the development side of the industry, and if K-T did not bring it here because of financial reasons then nevermind. But I'm one of the gullible people who would have believed what this tweet said had I not come into the thread.

Love the response from the artist of Dragon's Crown to that dumb SJW article from Kotaku.

 

[L Thammy]

Even if there are scathing articles written about DOAX3's sexuality, how many people are actually going to read them? And I mean more than just the titles.

 

[Producer]

Has there been any official word on this yet? Because I've been waiting to hear/see one.

Generally jp versions rarely have english text. The asian version is already confirmed to have english.

 

[RM8]

Who even complained about this game, though? As an evil person who hates fanservice, I only complain when fanservice makes its way into games that didn't have it before (pretty much Fire Emblem, lol). But are there truly many people who oppose the existence of games that are not really trying to be anything but fanservice?

Controversial games get released all the time, and they're even more popular when they become controversial (see: Hatred).

 

[Garrett Hawke]

It was successful enough to lead to FOUR versions of the game being released in the West, and three years of DLC content being produced. There's no way any of that happens if the game isn't doing great.

That doesn't scream "success" to me. That screams "recouping investments".

 

[GuardianE]

Yikes. I wish there was a way to import the Asian version outside of Play-Asia.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Love the response from the artist of Dragon's Crown to that dumb SJW article from Kotaku.

You mean the artist who made a homophobic joke suggesting that the author not liking Dragon's Crown's character designs meant he was gay?

 

[Mr_Antimatter]

I doubt they're worried about sales being affected, more about image. It was never going to fly off the shelves to begin with.

How could it damage their image anymore then five DOA games and three previous DOAX series games?

It's a series known for pushing T&A front and center.

 

[Corpekata]

Play Asia knows their audience.

Seems like KT ought to learn theirs.

 

[Nanashrew]

I'm curious what people think..

Is claiming the game was yanked by pressure from social justice movements, and that's bad, the evil? (Whether it is true or not)

Or is the term SJW itself the evil?

I guess I want to know if a new slur was just birthed in front of our eyes.

People who use the term SJW are often idiots and use it as a way to undermine others who do discuss and fight for social justice, or just anyone who has any progressive viewpoints. And in this case, there was no opposing force of any kind, no one cares at all about the game outside of niche circles.

The Xtreme series has also been known to score poorly and sell poorly because it's a poorly made game which leads me to believe that they just said all of this to pass blame and it has been effective.

 

[low-G]

Imagine a world where every single tweet was this delicious.

 

[Warxard]

Who even complained about this game, though? As an evil person who hates fanservice, I only complain when fanservice makes its way into games that didn't have it before (pretty much Fire Emblem, lol). But are there truly many people who oppose the existence of games that are not really trying to be anything but fanservice?

No one is complaining about the game, that's the thing.

Being outraged at 'outrage culture'. Gamers are so afraid of a contradicting opinion they themselves are projecting at a higher rate than the criticizers to confirm said criticism. it's Uncanny!

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

Because this well known series has been selling like shit.

Disgaea sells like shit,tales of sales like shit, atelier sells like shit, koeis new game nights of azure is going to sell like shit. So on so on. I dnt care about the feminist stuff thats not my concern and play asia was alil out of line but to try and turn a blind eye and act like this is all sales is foolish

 

[Risette]

Yikes. I wish there was a way to import the Asian version outside of Play-Asia.

there are a few stores. yesasia if you want to deal with them, or http://www.superufo.com/pp/index.asp if you wait until the game is out (no preorders)

 

[charlequin]

Those kinds of accusations could certainly be something the company, and the employees within, do NOT want to deal with for any amount of money.

So the people at this company are timid little babies who are comfortable making games with teenage titty ladies but will shit themselves over the idea of a media outlet criticizing them for that decision? Do you really think this is a plausible scenario?

Dragon's crown was called out on its content when it came out

...and had a very positive critical reception, and went on to incredibly successful sales in the West, so... what's the economic incentive to not put out a game that gets this type of attention, exactly?

 

[Star Platinum]

I approve of this

 

[t26]

Yikes. I wish there was a way to import the Asian version outside of Play-Asia.

Like someone said there is yesasia. Would love to see if there is a place for Asian CE version.

 

[GuardianE]

there are a few stores. yesasia if you want to deal with them, or http://www.superufo.com/pp/index.asp if you wait until the game is out (no preorders)

Is there any reason I wouldn't want to use yesasia?

 

[nckillthegrimace]

I doubt they're worried about sales, more about image. It was never going to fly off the shelves to begin with.

What image? K-T's Western image is "they make Dynasty Warriors and that boob fighter, also At-leer." Boob volleyball isn't changing shit. This is either an excuse to cover for a sales reason or a stunt to drum up interest. Or the community manager is full of shit because they're a community manager.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Public enemy #1 when it comes to... gender equality?

No, I meant that people view them as a site that does nothing but tear games like DoA apart. But their articles about the game don't do any of that. They just report what has been announced. I've looked around and haven't really seen anyone taking issue with DoAX3. If anything i've seen people just mentioning that they're less bothered by it because it's up front and honest about what it is instead of hiding it. I'm sure the negativity exists somewhere. But i'm not seeing what Tecmo is so worried about.

 

[Risette]

Is there any reason I wouldn't want to use yesasia?

they kinda suck. customer support is awful if things go wrong, shipping is expensive, and their markups are just as high as PA. ymmv though.

 

[Fasty]

As far as I'm aware, it's not illegal to sell DOA internationally.

So the real party responsible for it not coming over is...

 

[Lord Dante]

Well, looks like I'm importing for my Vita~

 

[GuardianE]

they kinda suck. customer support is awful if things go wrong, shipping is expensive, and their markups are just as high as PA. ymmv though.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

I bet the real reason is that the game is going 100% all in on Japanese mobile game style gacha bullshit and they would face a huge backlash from their actual audience in the west after looking at complaints re MGSV etc.

 

[TriAceJP]

Yikes. I wish there was a way to import the Asian version outside of Play-Asia.

Try Amazon or eBay.

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Also how can people be on Gaf, supposedly the bastion of game knowledge in the free world, and not know that P-A are price gougers and that there are other, Asia-version carrying stores