Fumihiko Yasuda Basically Confirmed Next Team NINJA Games

We wish everyone a happy New Year here at Free Step Dodge and would like to take a minute to thank the readers and contributors of the longest running Dead or Alive website in the world for continuing to support us with your viewership, donations and thoughtful comments. This past year we delved deep into the inner mind of the Koei Tecmo business model, explored their other games passionately and kept DOA tournaments a major highlight whether it was Dead or Alive 2: Ultimate, Dead or Alive 3 ++, Dead or Alive 5 and of course Dead or Alive 6. At FSD we will continue to entertain, educate and delight you with a razor-sharp community that knows the ins and outs of Team NINJA along with our Indepth front page news articles.

I truly do believe there is every type of Team NINJA player here possible including: veterans such as Rikuto and Ponton that can give you the absolute best gameplay advice, we have active modders posting that can whip up just about anything your heart desires, the blunt historian news hounds that know it all, seasoned tournament players, old school fighters that date back to the Dreamcast days, the person that goes on every date in Venus Vacation, the player that can beat NINJA Gaiden without taking a hit. It is so much fun to have an educated roster of people contributing to FSD!

For some there are lots of reasons to go and lots of reasons to stay; and for those still straddling the fence I think we may be heading back into a positive direction with classic Team NINJA franchises that we all know and love and want to see return. According to president of Team NINJA: Fumihiko Yasuda who spoke out just a few days ago via Famitsu Online; and before we get into this let me make one thing straight right away - fans and veteran players alike did not bite onto this tease at all; and I'm willing to bet some didn't even read what he actually said because that is what years of agonizing anticipation will do to someone.

To those that doubt let me try to persuade you to not be a believer, but maybe have a little faith and we can do this by breaking down what Yasuda said piece by piece:

We have continued to produce titles with historical themes such as the Sengoku and the end of the Edo period, and we have learned a lot from them, but we would like to make 2024 a year in which we take a fresh look at the historic series of Koei Tecmo and Team NINJA.

This comment single-handedly expels and negates the idea of a new Nioh, Nobunaga or Ronin title and suggests that they are moving on from that period of time. This also would disqualify a new Wo Long title since it is not a historic Team NINJA title which would negate Three Kingdoms/Onward into Western Jin Dynasty as well. Also keep in mind that Team NINJA has not announced any type of season pass for the Rise of Ronin. The historic series of Koei Tecmo would have to be a NINJA Gaiden or Dead or Alive title with one historic Koei Tecmo title already in place with Atelier Resleriana. Team NINJA is working on Atelier Resleriana and Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation as their two gacha titles that will bring in guaranteed money, but do not require full-time operators as the base on how to make the money has been built for years.

Koei Tecmo's stock performance fell -35% for Q4 despite having an outstanding and underrated year and when this type of thing happens, they turn to Dead or Alive for a quick revenue pull. So, my guess is that they are or will be working on NINJA Gaiden and Dead or Alive titles. Based on what Fumihiko Yasuda has said on the record here, it's going to be A LOT harder for him to turn around and say differently when the press challenges him again. What's he going to say? "I didn't say those things" and disappear?

This is Yasuda's chance to do some serious storytelling in his own life. To challenge himself to think and succeed outside of the souls-like genre and to write previous wrongs that haunt him. Not to mention that he still has gameplay engineers on staff from the Dead or Alive franchise.
 
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Happy New Year FSD. Thank you for your great news articles here DOAN! I would absolutely love it if 2024 were to be the year that Team NINJA takes another look at Dead or Alive and NINJA Gaiden! Also is that a pun with "write previous wrongs?" ;)
 
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Aerobiz reboot pls

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Ninja Gaiden maybe. It's delusional to think they're working on another DOA right now.

What do you mean maybe and delusional? They are his words. I think it’s important to report those facts and put them to the test than to stand idle and not only that but to apply some pressure where you can and where it seems feasible enough to do so.
 
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Personally I'm not 100% too excited of Yasuda's "fresh look at the historic series of Koei Tecmo and Team NINJA", especially if they plan on doing another DOA game. As much as I would love to see another DOA game, but I have no trust in KT & TN making a proper follow-up from both DOA5 or DOAXVV considering they have a serious habit of toning down sex appeal (which sex appeal is what makes $92 Season Pass & Paid V-Stones valuable) whenever they make a new game (mainly worldwide releases) with a recent example Atelier Resleriana on what they did to Plachta & Pantyshots:



That game had optional jiggle physics, which there should be little reason to cover Plachta or get an Upskirt Black Void. That game is becoming the DOA6 for Atelier series & Gacha games.

This is coming from someone who enjoy DOA since PS2 Days with DOA2: Hardcore, and currently spends 4,539.6 hours on DOAXVV along side spends money on Paid V-Stones between $28 (to renew Auto Play, because that expires) to $92 (to get certain outfits when there is a new girl or celebrate a DOA girl's birthday or special day) since May 22, 2020.

The only way I'd ever be hype for another DOA game is 1. Keep it Japan/Asia Exclusive, 2. Only available on PC & Nintendo Systems (either Switch or Next-Gen System Nintendo decides to announce), 3. Don't cover skins like Plachta & Rachel's Fiend Costumes or Panties under girls' skirt, and 4. Provide Trailers/Teasers in a fashion as DOAX3/DOAXVV, NGS2 Japanese Commercial (the one where people's head move up & down like girls's breast when that game had Dualshock 3 Motion Support), & DOA6 EVO Japan "Core Values" that feature the girls along with Photo Mode that EVO took down. Follow these methods and I would pay for the game & DLC at any price (mainly that would cost games up to $100).
 
I don't really care personally if DOA would censor anything since it's able to be changed on PC anyway but I'd prefer if they kept the game localized to the west since I don't want them limiting the translation to a rougher less western one and only having Japanese voices. And I would prefer if they also featured consoles like Xbox and ps4 besides PC and Nintendo since Nintendo couldn't even optimize MK1 properly and it looks and runs awful on whatever console for Nintendo they ported it to.

DOA wouldn't even have to censor anything since we're pretty much past the Esport censorship era from the previous years, if SF6 can add near full body jiggle for almost everyone and get away with the up front sexualization they have going on, I don't think DOA would hold back themselves since the worst that can happen is people making the game the butt of jokes like they've been doing for years
 
fingers cross... this year it would probably be just Rise of the Ronin so far but I'd would go with lower expectations like usual, however I would love to see Tecmo titles gets revive like old Kagero Deception remake games with deception 4 gameplay upgrade or their (total) forgottem gem like 'Quantum Theory' and maybe we get the re-release of Fatal Frame 2 remake?
 
Team NINJA is working on Atelier Resleriana and Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation as their two gacha titles that will bring in guaranteed money, but do not require full-time operators as the base on how to make the money has been built for years. So, my guess is that they are or will be working on NINJA Gaiden and Dead or Alive titles. Based on what Fumihiko Yasuda has said on the record here, it's going to be A LOT harder for him to turn around and say differently when the press challenges him again.
I think it’s important to report those facts and put them to the test than to stand idle and not only that but to apply some pressure where you can and where it seems feasible enough to do so.
Not everyone's got an itchy trigger finger, kid. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't get it to drink. Besides, what if merch ends up selling better than two games that are basically giving off an illusion of free choice?

OK, I admit it... that was funny. Certainly funnier than a reboot of Rygar.
Neither Aerobiz or Rygar are their only options.

Ninja Gaiden maybe. It's delusional to think they're working on another DOA right now.
That's a bit harsh. I think the operating word is "potential". Obviously, KT has a plan in place and they're not gonna derail it because of shitposters like me running amuck.

Personally I'm not 100% too excited of Yasuda's "fresh look at the historic series of Koei Tecmo and Team NINJA", especially if they plan on doing another DOA game.
Then get the hell off the pot.
 
That tweet is extremely cryptic. I hope for another DOA, hopefully a better written reboot with consistent story arcs and characters who’s personality isn’t the size of they tits. I just hope for a well executed game and fleshed out characters, with FIGHTING as its main focus. Especially since it’s a fighting game.
 
That tweet is extremely cryptic.
Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out they're probably not gonna do Tecmo Bowl. At least not yet, considering the restrictions the NFL has its license and Madden being a money-maker.

I hope for another DOA, hopefully a better written reboot with consistent story arcs and characters who have personality isn’t the size of their tits.
Despite my unsuccessful attempts at trolling and pretending to be stupid, I have to admit that's a rather bold statement to make.

Do older DOA games have flaws in their stories? Absolutely, and 5 was good, but not perfect. So, perhaps on retrospect, I didn't use enough hindsight to confirm whether what I was saying was based in reality or not. The 2nd half is a point of contention, cuz a lot of people WANT to empathize with the female characters to the point where you're basically larping as a husband (which Venus Vacation is a manifestation of, for all intents and purposes), and while I overexaggerated my misgivings on any potential plot holes in older games I've either come across or what is simply my headcanon, I have to admit, DOA has never been TRULY one of the best-written game series I can think of.

I just hope for a good game and new blood, with a fighting game director at the helm.
I don't see why not. On the contrary, I'd appreciate more ways that a DOA game can introduce new players to the characters and mechanics without penalty of losing in ranked multiple times over, and unfortunately, I don't think any DOA game I've played has anything in that direction outside of a handful of options (Tutorial, Combo Challenge and Practice). And maybe they could dial down the spectacle just a teeny bit to not make all the fights feel too dramatic for their own good (which has also been a problem from the beginning) and AI bots with a normal difficulty that won't kill you because you made a bad read.
 
I don't really care personally if DOA would censor anything since it's able to be changed on PC anyway
That is via mods which is not the same as buying the game as is from both developer/publishers. Even if you use mods to change the censored content, you still had to spend money on censor product that KT/TN offered (which companies should be punished via not purchasing their games), plus mods are not separate product I can buy that completely bypass developers/publishers. Also modding can be taken away if KT takes ideas from Capcom:


Which mods could be a big threat to like DLC or Microtransactions, because companies want to nickel dime costumes for their worth & value.

since Nintendo couldn't even optimize MK1 properly and it looks and runs awful on whatever console for Nintendo they ported it to.
More like Shiver Entertainment & Saber Interactive can't make a proper Switch version of MK1, since these 2 were the developers not Nintendo. Nintendo could've done much better job than what WB/NRS chose to handle the Switch version, the worst you can get from Nintendo are glitches/bugs (example Pokemon Scarlet & Violet).

I don't think DOA would hold back themselves
The only thing that would hold back DOA, are KT US/EU along with how they handle worldwide releases that is the real problem. The Western division are the same group that didn't DOAX3 Western releases unlike previous games it was available worldwide. (Honestly for good reasons based on how they handle Western releases)
 
That is via mods which is not the same as buying the game as is from both developer/publishers. Even if you use mods to change the censored content, you still had to spend money on censor product that KT/TN offered (which companies should be punished via not purchasing their games), plus mods are not separate product I can buy that completely bypass developers/publishers. Also modding can be taken away if KT takes ideas from Capcom:


Which mods could be a big threat to like DLC or Microtransactions, because companies want to nickel dime costumes for their worth & value.


More like Shiver Entertainment & Saber Interactive can't make a proper Switch version of MK1, since these 2 were the developers not Nintendo. Nintendo could've done much better job than what WB/NRS chose to handle the Switch version, the worst you can get from Nintendo are glitches/bugs (example Pokemon Scarlet & Violet).


The only thing that would hold back DOA, are KT US/EU along with how they handle worldwide releases that is the real problem. The Western division are the same group that didn't DOAX3 Western releases unlike previous games it was available worldwide. (Honestly for good reasons based on how they handle Western releases)
I don't think so tbh, the western versions of DOA so far have been pretty good at keeping everything close to the original, especially since the game has an M rating anyway so they'll be able to get away with more even tho I think SF definitely skated past alot themselves. I don't see DOA censoring anything since besides the Rachel costume which technically wasn't censored since a different existing version was used, nothing else was really messed with in DOA6. The DLC just wasn't that great besides the few good sets and revival packs and them censoring the younger break blow face close ups.
 
ALL DOA6 DOA5 DOA4 DOA3 DOA2U DOAD
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