Collection of Mainstream Articles Destroying Koei Tecmo's 'Hair Rental Service'

Free Step Dodge commits itself first to the players of Dead or Alive, and since the controversial launch of version 1.20 we have made it a top priority to let Koei Tecmo know that these 'hair rental' & DLC business practices are unacceptable and that enough is enough. The mainstream press is hearing the community and responding to KT with questions and concerns of their own! Keep in mind that Free Step Dodge will still cover the offline players that make DOA what it is today and our latest post supports the efforts made by the community at Reversal in Philadelphia.

It's sort of hysterical that the mainstream media is covering this as most of them are not fighting game fans, certainly not players of the often times underrated Dead or Alive franchise, but this hair rental controversy is a rare exception outside of new games & character DLCs. All of this started with our articles here at FSD, but then the dispute slowly trickled into other big news sources. Top Tier almost immediately questioned Koei Tecmo's business practices, and because of community complaints more and more started focusing directly on the hair rental itself.

Polygon noted our article and labeled it as a scathing news piece to complement and prove their own arguments. Because of Polygon's effect on video game journalism more and more different mediums started to notice and responded with voices of their own. Probably the most notable YouTube video was released by Jim Sterling, a famous video game critic, who outright defended supporters of the game and verbally destroyed and humiliated KT for their efforts to milk their own dedicated players dry with this radical update.

As of the second of March game news conglomerates Kotaku & Gamespot have joined the fight against KT with woven story pieces of their own. A lot of these news outlets have mentioned our articles at FSD plenty of times, but Gamespot really seems to be behind our community and mentioned our desires to change the future of this game at several points in the course of their news story. Eurogamer's story backed Emery Reigns as a reference with his onslaught of KT on his successful YouTube channel.

Moments after I initially wrote this article YongYea released a justifiable rant that lasted over 13 minutes. Shortly after 1.20 was released nearly the entire community came out to Facebook or Twitter to chant this topical YouTuber's name to come to their rescue. This well-crafted video doesn't just bury KT for their hair rental service, but also takes time to mention their two thousand dollars worth of DOA6 DLC & expensive season passes.

Siliconera & Event Hubs are two news outlets that report for Dead or Alive consistently and have also taken shots at KT recently and have received no response from them despite their efforts for the series while also encouraging players to try DOA6 out. Many fighters are at this point where they wonder how much information and evidence KT needs to admit that this was not a good idea.

To further prove the point we are trying to make we created a Twitter poll which shows an overwhelmingly negative response to the hair rental service. With over 500 votes only 17 percent of Dead or Alive's active player base is not bothered by these despicable transactions:

 
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Just do what SFV did in which the seasons are focused on new characters and new mechanics. SFV seasons 1&2 were poorly received, season 3 (AE) started turning things around and by season 4 (CE) the player base is rather content where the game is.

It's laughable that KT will offer a max of 2 characters per season pass and make the bulk of the content "seasonal" costumes. They can add as many costumes as they want but don't make them take center stage. Focus on fixing the netcode and the stages and people will buy the optional content on their own, just like with Chun-Li costumes.

I agree.
 
Un tres grand site francais de jeux video:

(did they have to use a Tina in pigtails pic? >_<)

"This new DLC adds to the long list of DLC that is now available to purchase for Dead or Alive 6, which at its smallest cost when bought on Steam as season passes totals to about $343 / £280. If you were to buy each DLC individually, and therefore at the highest cost, you're looking at a grand total of around $900 / £776.” (IGN) Some people on other sites were complaining about people like Yong only quoting the full price at the bottom on Steam. However they don't seem to realize that even when you don't quote the full number that includes redundant purchases, DOA6 is by far the worst for DLC among the current batch of fighters (MK, SC, Tekken). I appreciate them taking the time to give a more accurate number at least. Not many major gaming outlets left. Like I said, it's up to KT now.

Though I find it surprising that that ign article managed to not notice they shared a tweet saying the game is made by Ninja Theory... o_O
 
Un tres grand site francais de jeux video:

(did they have to use a Tina in pigtails pic? >_<)



Though I find it surprising that that ign article managed to not notice they shared a tweet saying the game is made by Ninja Theory... o_O
Hey it’s a small gap from TN to NT, lol.
 
Just make DOA6U/DOA6LR already. It's already confirmed that the vanilla state of DOA6 is ass. Only way I can see this making a strong return for the 6th one is to completely overhaul the entire game along with it's content, and then start from scratch with the 6th entry on the upgrade.

I personally don't want it. I don't want another sku that could otherwise be done as an update. I don't want there to be a "Dead or Alive 6" and a "Dead or Alive 6 Ultimate" on the Steam store, where people would and could still purchase Dead or Alive 6 instead of Ultimate - by accident or not. It'd also split the community, maybe not evenly, but it's just bleh.

I would understand if a new sku came out with the next gen hardware launch, should they even be bothered to give the expansion a budget at all, but the Steam version since it's the same platform should be an upgrade to the existing SKU over a separate unique SKU.
 
@Matt Ponton I think your concern for steam could be address by KT were they to actually release it, just takes some foresight and lessons learned from issues with how DOA5 did it on steam. I agree with it being made with a next gen consoles release in mind, though, like they did with LR.

I've said it before, but perhapse in too much of a wordy way: the number one reason to want Dead or Alive 6 Ultimate is because, just as with 5, it would give us most or hopefully all the DLC so far in one cheaper package... if it followed in DOA5's tradition, that is. But I can see how that would sting for those who did buy all the DLC so far, much more than it did with DOA5U, but it'd be for the good of the series to show that they've tried to address the problem of looking like they're only putting profits first.

I guess that's why we haven't seen it happen yet. In DOA5's case, the SP and DLC Costume overdrive hadn't begun yet. I don't think today's KT would ever want to give us a deal like that when they can just keep releasing SPs that each cost more than games. This is the KT that didn't even eventually release an actually complete edition of DOA5 after LR, they just added tons of DLC to LR and left it like that, for anyone checking out years into the future to have to shell out for or tearfully window shop as they calculate the total cost for being a completionist. They hardly even do sales anymore. I think the one in Janurary was the first one for DOA6 right? I had been crossing my fingers for DOA5LR DLC sales since I switched to Xbox One, but it never happens anymore since DOA6 released.

Actually, the only way I can see an Ultimate release happening now is for two reasons: the release of PS5 and the next Xbox, and to correct issues as a result of all this bad press, to reset the situation and start fresh with a "new" more robust sku.
 
his is the KT that didn't even eventually release an actually complete edition of DOA5 after LR, they just added tons of DLC to LR and left it like that, for anyone checking out years into the future to have to shell out for or tearfully window shop as they calculate the total cost for being a completionist.

Team NINJA has never re-released GOTY edition games which include all the DLC. Even the jump to Last Round only included the 4 least selling costume sets.
 
@Matt Ponton - They should, though. So many people are still interested in getting into DOA5 but are turned off by the DLC costs, even though it's just cosmetic. Even if they released an actual complete edition now, so long after DOA5LR last got a DLC release, I know it would sell. In the case of DOA6, if an Ultimate edition were to even have half of the DLC out for it on disc, it would help.
 
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Team NINJA has never re-released GOTY edition games which include all the DLC. Even the jump to Last Round only included the 4 least selling costume sets.

At the time of release they kind of considered Ninja Gaiden: Black a GOTY edition of original, but I see your point.

Anyway, this article has been updated as a collection of mainstream news sources and contains most stories against Koei Tecmo for their false business practices and no care attitude.

If you have a story I missed PLEASE add it so I can include it with this news post. Thank you!
 
AJS called the game 'garbage'. Joe's take on hairgate is ok but let's pretend the video doesn't exist.
 
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I think one of his most notoriously popular video reviews was for ripping appart DOAX2, right? And now he's talking about DOA6 while playing VV footage in the background, lol. Some people are just looking to entertain rather than inform...
 
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I
Just make DOA6U/DOA6LR already. It's already confirmed that the vanilla state of DOA6 is ass. Only way I can see this making a strong return for the 6th one is to completely overhaul the entire game along with it's content, and then start from scratch with the 6th entry on the upgrade.
I want ultimate edition so badly
 
I'm confused by the lack of answer from the company. My ultimate hope is to use (poor) Tamaki to get a reaction. What do you think ? You guys are okay ? What do you advise me/us to do ?



I'm no convinced by my own poster, maybe some of you can do better montages... Gimme your faith and skills because I'm loosing patience.
 
ALL DOA6 DOA5 DOA4 DOA3 DOA2U DOAD
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