Examining DOA7 Hiroaki Morita Tweets Legitimacy

[inochinagi]

I was hoping for Fatal Frame 1 and 2 instead. Oh well.

Yeah but the thing is, that happening is more likely now than ever... and Mask of the Lunar Eclipse has never been released in the west so I'm glad they're getting that done next. I'm sure if it does at least as well as MotBW did they'll continue to release more, maybe even make a new one.

 

[deathofaninja]

As far as I can see, Hayashi's only work right now is as Executive Producer on Wo Long.

As for that DOA7 image, as much as I like Switch and wish there was a DOA for it.... DOA7 for Switch? lmao. That would never happen.

Interesting that Ronin leak actually came true. When the news of the game came out during TGS, it's funny how hardly anyone realized that it was something had had been leaked months ago. I even forgot about it till you guys brought it up, lol.

But because of that game's reveal... I feel like NG4 is not gonna happen in a looong time. Maybe if they give it to whatever devs are left over from DOA6's development and outsource again, but do we really want that? Pain... But, at least Hayashi, being a producer at KT now, has expressed interest in going back to the series, so I'd bet on NG4 happening one day of course, but the problem is it just seems so far off now.

I'm really interested to learn if the BC rereleases of DOA1-4 did well on Xbox. I wish there was some way we could find out. Koei-Temco recently brought up how the 340K sales of the Fatal Frame: Maiden of the Black Water rerelease directly resulted in them deciding to bring back Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse too, which they said they knew fans were asking for. A lot of people would have assumed KT would have seen that as a flop, but apparently not, and apparently fans supporting the rerelease actually payed off, and so did asking them for a specific game in the series.

FATAL FRAME: Maiden of Black Water's success made Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse's remaster possible

We made this possible!

www.gonintendo.com

At least this shows that KT isn't a consistently terrible publisher when it comes to pleasing and listening to fans.
Don't give up hope, my fellow DOA fans!

I can get Morita to talk to me and since he was right about Ronin it's hard not to call him an official source, but a questionable source. First off, I do think he works at Team NINJA, but I don't think it's Morita. I think it's someone that poses as Morita since he is just a 1 year or a 2 year.

Ronin is about a year away, and Wo Long comes out unbelievably soon next year. According to Morita Ninja Gaiden is coming out after Ronin.

Yasuda is a perfectionist as well, so when he does something, he wants to do it the right way. I'm more than positive Ninja Gaiden 3 was a tough pill for him to swallow and writing that wrong is important to him.

If we are to believe that Morita is right - the only reason DOA7 was tabled or even cancelled is because of Shimbori's stupidity at EVO Japan. The hair rental service was the last straw for the chairmen (but that there is their problem). I hate saying this, but the company actually has a better chance of bringing back DOA without Shimbori because he destroyed his reputation, even though the guy has an incredible mind for fighting games and was the voice of DOA for a number of years.

If you want DOA7 to ever happen, encourage Yasuda, don't threaten him or his team because that will fall on deaf ears. Like so many of these idiots on Twitter are doing.

 

[inochinagi]

Ronin is about a year away, and Wo Long comes out unbelievably soon next year. According to Morita Ninja Gaiden is coming out after Ronin.

Yasuda is a perfectionist as well, so when he does something, he wants to do it the right way. I'm more than positive Ninja Gaiden 3 was a tough pill for him to swallow and writing that wrong is important to him.

Yeah guess you're right that it could be sooner than I think. It's crazy cuz these games look huge an they were just announced but they'll be out in what will seem like no-time. And Yasuda has more than redeemed and proven himself as a director, it's NG that needs redeeming, and with both him and Hayashi expressing their desire to see it get done, I'm sure it'll happen, and hopefully right after these projects. After Nioh and other TN successes, though, I wonder if NG will get more "serious" than it's ever been and even leave out the likes of Ayane/Momiji/Rachel, as TN's recent hits have (correct me if I'm wrong) had some of the least sexual content in any TN game.

And while I personally didn't find what Shimbori did at Evo stupid, I admit it was probably bad judgement on his part and/or his marketing team or something because when it comes to the west, requiring to "button up" to the point of being prudish (at least in the general public's eyes, and for the people hosting you) is an understatement... it's weird cuz Shimbori seemed to be playing the west differently from the east in interviews, but then that happened and it was totally mixed messaging by that point. With the hired gravure girls, I think in their minds everything they were doing was for Japanese audiences, but they should have kept in mind that they wouldn't be the only audience. Other than the issue of mixed messaging from Shimbori in regards to "toning things down", I still put most of the blame on KT's higher ups or who ever decided things had to be toned down (or made to appear so) at all to appease Evo or whatever, going back to before DOA5's release. But if someone was gonna be fired, it's not like those people were going to fire themselves or resign, and so Shimbori's the one that bit the bullet, unfortunately.

I don't think it's been brought up here much, but in the lead-up to DOA6's development, Sony's policies changing in regards to sexual content in video games may have also had a further chilling effect on KT/TN and made them try harder to look for ways to tone down, or at least appear to tone down, without upsetting fans at the same time. But that's just speculation on my part.

 

[KasumiLover]

Yeah guess you're right that it could be sooner than I think. It's crazy cuz these games look huge an they were just announced but they'll be out in what will seem like no-time. And Yasuda has more than redeemed himself as a director, it's NG that needs redeeming, and with both him and Hayashi expressing their desire to see it get done, I'm sure it'll happen, and hopefully right after these projects. After Nioh and other TN successes, though, I wonder if NG will get more "serious" than it's ever been and even leave out the likes of Ayane/Momiji/Rachel, as TN's recent hits have (correct me if I'm wrong) had some of the least sexual content in any TN game.

And while I personally didn't find what Shimbori did at Evo stupid, I admit it was probably bad judgement on his part and/or his marketing team or something because when it comes to the west, requiring to "button up" to the point of being prudish (at least in the general public's eyes, and for the people hosting you) is an understatement... it's weird cuz Shimbori seemed to be playing the west differently from the east in interviews, but then that happened and it was totally mixed messaging by that point. With the hired gravure girls, I think in their minds everything they were doing was for Japanese audiences, but they should have kept in mind that they wouldn't be the only audience. Other than the issue of mixed messaging from Shimbori in regards to "toning things down", I put most of the blame on KT's higher ups or who ever decided things had to be toned down (or made to appear so) at all to appease Evo or whatever, going back to before DOA5's release.

I don't think it's been brought up here much, but in the lead-up to DOA6's development, Sony's policies changing in regards to sexual content in video games may have also had a further chilling effect on KT/TN and made them try harder to look for ways to tone down, or at least appear to tone down, without upsetting fans at the same time. But that's just speculation on my part.

Tbh I don't think Sony toning down the sexual content really affected DOA6's development at all imo since the game still is quite sexualized, and with the thigh jiggle and outfits and such they definitely managed to really avoid all that I think mainly in part to the M+ rating that added some cushioning so they could get away with more

If anything I don't think it affected fighting games much at all since SC6 got away with a whole lot of stuff the censors should have cracked down on like some of the more revealing costumes and how the armor break system worked. I think DOA6 did try to play it safe but after a while they stopped really caring after they dropped Rachel and her content after that silly Fiend costume "censor" xD

 

[deathofaninja]

Tbh I don't think Sony toning down the sexual content really affected DOA6's development at all imo since the game still is quite sexualized, and with the thigh jiggle and outfits and such they definitely managed to really avoid all that I think mainly in part to the M+ rating that added some cushioning so they could get away with more

If anything I don't think it affected fighting games much at all since SC6 got away with a whole lot of stuff the censors should have cracked down on like some of the more revealing costumes and how the armor break system worked. I think DOA6 did try to play it safe but after a while they stopped really caring after they dropped Rachel and her content after that silly Fiend costume "censor" xD

The Fiend costume censor was irredeemable, and it wouldn't have happened had it not been for Sony. Unfortunately, everyone without a PC had to feel that one.

Yeah guess you're right that it could be sooner than I think. It's crazy cuz these games look huge an they were just announced but they'll be out in what will seem like no-time. And Yasuda has more than redeemed and proven himself as a director, it's NG that needs redeeming, and with both him and Hayashi expressing their desire to see it get done, I'm sure it'll happen, and hopefully right after these projects. After Nioh and other TN successes, though, I wonder if NG will get more "serious" than it's ever been and even leave out the likes of Ayane/Momiji/Rachel, as TN's recent hits have (correct me if I'm wrong) had some of the least sexual content in any TN game.

And while I personally didn't find what Shimbori did at Evo stupid, I admit it was probably bad judgement on his part and/or his marketing team or something because when it comes to the west, requiring to "button up" to the point of being prudish (at least in the general public's eyes, and for the people hosting you) is an understatement... it's weird cuz Shimbori seemed to be playing the west differently from the east in interviews, but then that happened and it was totally mixed messaging by that point. With the hired gravure girls, I think in their minds everything they were doing was for Japanese audiences, but they should have kept in mind that they wouldn't be the only audience. Other than the issue of mixed messaging from Shimbori in regards to "toning things down", I still put most of the blame on KT's higher ups or who ever decided things had to be toned down (or made to appear so) at all to appease Evo or whatever, going back to before DOA5's release. But if someone was gonna be fired, it's not like those people were going to fire themselves or resign, and so Shimbori's the one that bit the bullet, unfortunately.

I don't think it's been brought up here much, but in the lead-up to DOA6's development, Sony's policies changing in regards to sexual content in video games may have also had a further chilling effect on KT/TN and made them try harder to look for ways to tone down, or at least appear to tone down, without upsetting fans at the same time. But that's just speculation on my part.

They've toned down the sex appeal and leave the more intense elements of that to Venus Vacation. KT will probably always keep some type of sex appeal schemes in their back-pocket.

 

[inochinagi]

My speculation about if Sony's policy change had any affect, it wasn't in regards so much to the actual content but more on the behavior of KT/TN in regards to trying to play both sides (which you can argue Evo was more of a reason, since as early as 2011). Yeah there's still plenty of sexual content, but it lead to ridiculous ideas like the black paint "Exposure Minimization" mode, which was like an actual demonstration of the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" (tons of black lipstick, just replace "a pig" with "large portions of a woman's body") , and a physical manifestation of all the double talk leading up the game's release. If you try to please everyone, you can end up pleasing no one, especially if the effort to do so ends up being half assed.

 

[deathofaninja]

My speculation about if Sony's policy change had any affect, it wasn't in regards so much to the actual content but more on the behavior of KT/TN in regards to trying to play both sides. Yeah there's still plenty of sexual content, but it lead to ridiculous ideas like the black paint "Exposure Minimization" mode, which was like an actual demonstration of the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig", and a physical manifestation of all the double talk leading up the game's release. If you try to please everyone, you can end up pleasing no one, especially if the effort to do so ends up being half assed.

Sony made the change very close to DOA6's release - so Team NINJA's response was to use the black paint as a quick cover up; that way the release date wouldn't change again.

 

[inochinagi]

The thing about Sony's policy that a lot of people don't understand is that it's vague and all over the place. It doesn't mean Sony wants as little sexual content as possible, it's become (probably unintentionally) more of a boogeyman than anything else, a boogeyman for devs, especially Japanese ones, and devs have said this themselves. So you can't judge how it's working by looking at the games released since the change was made public. There's no definitive list of what's ok and what isn't from Sony, and devs, especially all the way over in Japan, don't want to deal with going back and forth with Sony's approval system, so they've taken to trying to avoid the whole situation in the first place by "self-censoring" or doing ridiculous things themselves in the hopes that'll appease the Sony Gods. And unless someone asks devs directly about it, there's no way of knowing what affect it had on their game. I'm not suggesting this boogeyman is what prompted TN to talk so much about "toning down", as like I said that's been going on since before DOA5, but it probably didn't help the situation, right? It definitely had an effect on the DOAX series tho (no western release, differences between Switch and PS4 releases...)

Reminder for anyone reading this who doesn't care about the sexual content in DOA, this stuff is still important because it's regarding the series and TN's reputation. Why we're no longer seeing DOA6 get supported has nothing to do with its gameplay or technical quality, it's because KT saw too many things that was hurting their reputation, and those things have to do with negative publicity around their handling of "casual" things like cosmetic DLC and all this stuff, and this apparent leak that KT wasn't happy with Shimbori and what happened at Evo.

 

[Raansu]

Yasuda is an entirely different president from the ones prior and is the first one with (to my knowledge) no fighting game experience at Team NINJA. He does have a credit for doing something with Dead or Alive Xtreme 2.

So now that this leaker has been correct about Ronin it makes a strong argument that Dead or Alive 7 was started and canceled. The best thing you could do now is complain to Master if there is any plan at all for DOA as a fighting series to have a future.

I don't have any real feelings on it. DOA needs a definitive break, but I also feel bad for the people that put so much money and effort to go to the tournaments and to try make a following. I thought DOA5 at the very least was a shining success and the momentum was tossed off a cliff because KT couldn't accept they were wrong for the hair rental service.

But I also can't sit here and pretend that DOA6 was in any form a better game than Nioh 2 or even from what I have played of Wo Long - so why would Yasuda bet on the odds against him with DOA. I don't think he will stick his neck out for the franchise.

That being said what I don't think he knows is how many DOA players actually buy Team NINJA's games that are not DOA. If DOA as a fighter loses complete support, he will lose fans and sales over time. The DOA community, and the popularity of the characters is a lot bigger than most people realize or care to admit because they've casted it as a niche titty bopping title.

I thought DOA was a great alternate for a 3D fighting player, but it looks like I might be stuck with Tekken 8 a few years.

What happened to Hayashi? I thought he was the head of TN? I've really been out of the loop lol...

 

[KasumiLover]

What happened to Hayashi? I thought he was the head of TN? I've really been out of the loop lol...

Hayashi has resigned a long while ago iirc from working on DOA specifically

 

[inochinagi]

What happened to Hayashi? I thought he was the head of TN? I've really been out of the loop lol...

The last few years he's been a producer on TN's recent hits like Nioh, Stranger of Paradise, FE Warriors, and Hyrule Warriors. Right now, he's Executive Producer for Wo Long.

This should be more reliable for game credits than the likes of imdb at least:

Yosuke Hayashi - MobyGames

Game credits, biography, portraits and other game industry information for Yosuke Hayashi - MobyGames

www.mobygames.com

I'm surprised he's listed as a producer on DOA6. Was he? (ok yeah, I checked the credits, General Producer) I'm guessing he's more involved with some projects than he is with others. He was in a lot of interviews for Nioh but I don't remember ever seeing him in interviews for DOA6.

This article from Dec 2021 calls him Koei Tecmo's "general manager of the entertainment division" https://twinfinite.net/2021/12/koei-tecmo-2022-tease-new-game/

Ronin is about a year away, and Wo Long comes out unbelievably soon next year. According to Morita Ninja Gaiden is coming out after Ronin.

I just remembered there's also that AAA "hunting game" they're doing with EA...

 

[deathofaninja]

I'm sure Hayashi babysits Team NINJA devs on his recess or his lunch break once a month to see what they're up to and that's probably good enough to get executive producer these days.

 

[TheIndustrialCowboy]

If you want DOA7 to ever happen, encourage Yasuda, don't threaten him or his team because that will fall on deaf ears. Like so many of these idiots on Twitter are doing.

As an accompaniment to this, I think that one of the best things that DOA fans can do to encourage the possibility of a DOA7 is to keep making cool and engaging fan-made content. Tutorials, Cosplay, Photography, Lore Videos, Artwork, etc. This kind of fan-made content really illustrates the degree of interest that fans still have in the franchise, and I know that KT/TN do take notice of that on some level.

 

[deathofaninja]

DOA6 was a disaster from every point in its lifetime. Nothing could have saved it, not even good will. It killed the series. Expecting DOA7 is total hopium.

The series is too niche to weather bad titles like SF or Tekken can.

It sucks but there's no coming back from taking a shotgun blast to the face.

I was meh about Dead or Alive 6, but I know a lot of people that like it and still play it. lol. I mean I know for sure if it's this active on XBOX those Playstation & PC players must be playing it as well. I would say that DOA is still on the table, when they were done with Nioh games they said very publicly that they were done with Nioh games. Dead or Alive is a mainstay series of Team NINJA, and they would lose a considerable number of their player-base if word was that the series is done.

They also frequently advertise discounts for the game to sell more copies. It's easy to say people are on "hopium" because it could be a while before that thought could be completely shut down.

To say you don't like DOA6 is fair, to say that DOA doesn't have a place in the market is misinformed because the franchise does make money. They just made some blunder mistakes.

And if I might add this isn't another soap box thread for saying how much you dislike DOA6 and how irrelevant and how big of a disaster you thought it was.

 

[inochinagi]

DOA6 was a disaster from every point in its lifetime. Nothing could have saved it, not even good will. It killed the series. Expecting DOA7 is total hopium.

The series is too niche to weather bad titles like SF or Tekken can.

It sucks but there's no coming back from taking a shotgun blast to one's face.

I don't know how a series that has sold millions and has million-selling games, not to mention a "Hollywood" movie, can be considered "niche". And it's already weathered games considered bad before. Many fans considered DOA4 to be bad, despite its positive reviews (and guess what, DOA6 also got positive reviews from the mainstream, despite many fans considering it to be bad). Even comparing a million seller to another series that's capable of selling 10 million doesn't make it niche.

But I agree maybe KT should sit on it for a while. Get NG4 done first., then get their A-team on it. New numbered titles should be redone from the ground up, anyways, not thrown to a B-team and/or outsourced to reuse assets from the previous game and just throw a new coat of paint over it.

 

[HHH816]

When DOA was on Xbox it wasn't niche because it was the fighting game you got if you had an Xbox. But that was ages ago.

And yet there are supposedly many fans who are quite nostalgic about DOA4 and say it's their favorite game of the series. Who and where are all these fans anyway?

D0A5 gave the series a lot of momentum but DOA6 squashed all of it. The DOA community let the game die, rightly so. It's honestly surprising to me that DOA fans have standards to say "enough" when the hair debacle thing unfolded. At least fans still have core values

i call it the sleeper cell fanbase that came out on force when DOA6 is out, they came out with the rise of twitter.

they thought team ninja makes DOA6 for them but the truth DOA6 use the same microtransaction model like DOA5

so they can't except the content drip for money game model.

 

[deathofaninja]

When DOA was on Xbox it wasn't niche because it was the fighting game you got if you had an Xbox. But that was ages ago.

And yet there are supposedly many fans who are quite nostalgic about DOA4 and say it's their favorite game of the series. Who and where are all these fans anyway?

D0A5 gave the series a lot of momentum but DOA6 squashed all of it. The DOA community let the game die, rightly so. It's honestly surprising to me that DOA fans have standards to say "enough" when the hair debacle thing unfolded. At least fans still have core values

i call it the sleeper cell fanbase that came out on force when DOA6 is out, they came out with the rise of twitter.

they thought team ninja makes DOA6 for them but the truth DOA6 use the same microtransaction model like DOA5

so they can't except the content drip for money game model.

Once again - irrelevant to the topic. There are opinion threads and ramble threads for DOA6 and none of this is relevant to the Morita tweets. Infact according to him, Shimbori is the primary reason that things went south. Not because DOA6 used the same business model as DOA5 and not because DOA6 was let go by the community (which is definitely a complete lie). When nobody is supporting it at all then you can say the community let it die, but please have respect for those out there that are still building content for the game and doing weekly tournaments.

Besides, does there ever come a time where you don't sound like a broken record? Literally see the one same post 9/10. It gets old after a while.

 

[Hitomi Back From Hell]

As an accompaniment to this, I think that one of the best things that DOA fans can do to encourage the possibility of a DOA7 is to keep making cool and engaging fan-made content. Tutorials, Cosplay, Photography, Lore Videos, Artwork, etc. This kind of fan-made content really illustrates the degree of interest that fans still have in the franchise, and I know that KT/TN do take notice of that on some level.

Totally Agreed, Mate) The One Of Problem Is - Community. We Must Be United, And Not Just It Was On Release Of DOA 6, When All Crying and Sobbing - "Where My Sexy Costumes, I Want More". And All That Shit. We Must Support Our Ninjas And Not Complain Everywhere. We Have Best Fighting Game Cause: Incredible Fighting System, Incredible And Most Beautiful Characters, We Have Incredible Potential Of Game Story And Wonderful Plot System (In Original Trilogy, Yeah, But We Can Bring Back All Of It It s Not So Difficult). We Have Connection With Ninja Gaiden, Ninjas We Have Wonderful Legacy (Many Cool Awards in Past Years. The Best Fighting Game On Dreamcast and Xbox, etc), My Big Thanks To Itagaki And All Of His Team In Those Years. We Have Exclusive Game Story For Big Console For The End. Fuck We Great, Guys And Need To Bring It All Back. Yeah, Need To Recreate Many Characters (Since DOA 4), Cause Many Of Them Don t Have Strong Archetype In Their Core. Many Of Them Just Clons Of Past Characters ( Ein - Rig For Example. Victim Of Experiments Of Evil Corporation Antihero With No Memory And With Evil Roots. Even Fighting Style Is Similiar -Karate\Taekwondo). Ein - Is Well Maded Character. Rig - I Have Bad News For His Fans. But In Other Hand It s Just Clone In His Archetype\Plot Fundament Thing And It s Fixable. But Kokoro And Honoka Has Bigger Problems With It. But... It Fixible Too, If Think About It. Their Problem With Ayane Also Because Her Story Closed In DOA 3 (She Completed Her Revenge Task). But You Can Make Another Conflict To Her, It s Easy With Other Good Storyline And New BIG EVIL BOSS. I Really Want To Bring Back Genra (Maybe In His Human Form) And Hitomi s Father (To Continue Hitomi s Karate Kid Story). Actually If I Wrote DOA Story, Hitomi Will Be A Cool Revenge Antihero Like In Oldschool Movies Of 80s, I Think. But With Strong Karate Influence and Not Guns. Hitomi Such a Dramatic And Very Deep Character, As I can See Her. (In Her Strong Archetype Core).

 

[DestructionBomb]

the only reason DOA7 was tabled or even cancelled is because of Shimbori's stupidity at EVO Japan. The hair rental service was the last straw for the chairmen (but that there is their problem). I hate saying this, but the company actually has a better chance of bringing back DOA without Shimbori because he destroyed his reputation, even though the guy has an incredible mind for fighting games and was the voice of DOA for a number of years.

Was it truly him though? I believe Matt mentioned it, but it was supposedly confirmed that he had nothing to do with the EVO situation. He only followed through it based off KT marketing teams.

If you want DOA7 to ever happen, encourage Yasuda, don't threaten him or his team because that will fall on deaf ears. Like so many of these idiots on Twitter are doing.

Curious, why Yasuda specifically? is it because he's been in the building longer? there is literally someone in that building who's newly hired and is literally familiar with FGs. The individual I had in mind played and went to arcades for FGs in the past and does know how they work, he just never worked on it but can be a start after Wo Long or Ronin (?).

Course there's also the issue of whether or not he's even interested to do a FG since action games make bank so it may not even happen, but who's to say Yasuda won't run into the same exact troubles as Shimbori did, he'd literally be in the same palm that Shimbori was on. Yasuda's strong suit is also mostly action games no? If Shimbori had it rough for DOA and if Yasuda knows about it, is he going to also take that risk?

I don't know how a series that has sold millions and has million-selling games, not to mention a "Hollywood" movie, can be considered "niche". And it's already weathered games considered bad before. Many fans considered DOA4 to be bad, despite its positive reviews (and guess what, DOA6 also got positive reviews from the mainstream, despite many fans considering it to be bad). Even comparing a million seller to another series that's capable of selling 10 million doesn't make it niche.

But I agree maybe KT should sit on it for a while. Get NG4 done first., then get their A-team on it. New numbered titles should be redone from the ground up, anyways, not thrown to a B-team and/or outsourced to reuse assets from the previous game and just throw a new coat of paint over it.

It is pretty niche in terms of the rest of the fighting games. People bought & heard about it, but not many would actually stay for the series. The amount of players that consistently play most of the other fighting games such as SF/Tekken exceed far higher than DOA. Sure it sold millions, but it doesn't mean much if people don't actually stay.

I do agree that KT should sit on it until it's time, but they legit do not know how to handle the FG one at this present time. DOAX/VV is literally carrying the series for "alive IP support".

DOA (the fighting game versions that is) needs a better backer and there is clear evidence for years already that KT is not very good at it. Maybe Xbox can buy the series or some shit I don't know lol.

 

[Hitomi Back From Hell]

We Can Only Wait. Many Things Depends From Sells Of KT\TN Games. When Ninja Gaiden 4 will shown It s Our Little Hope For News About DOA 7, But Not Earlier. Play In Fortuneteller Game it s Pointless.