Team NINJA Social Media Updates for DOA6

[Xhominid The Demon Within]

Those games still sold a ton and made a profit. They dump these games and fix it later because the initial sales are all they care about. They make up the rest through DLC. Welcome to modern day gaming.

Because it's either make a ton of profit immediately... or get straight fucked by holding it back for years and losing window time and cash by delaying it for so long.

It's one of the main reasons you see companies either closing their doors or getting some really bad losses and layoffs.
It may come off as profitable... but it practically HAS to be or your studio is going to bomb.

 

[Strangerinmytub]

Shimbori stepping down and a second season pass is nice and all, but can we get some updates on this month's costumes? What about the promised intro's and outro's? When the last batch came out we had to trial and error every character just to figure out who got what. Free content is cool, but I'd be willing to give them money if they let us buy single costumes instead of the whole pack? Really shitty communication from TN.

 

[juliusxcix]

We’re eventually gonna go back to DOA5 sidestep because of random people on the internet complaining....

good

 

[Jyu_Viole_Grace]

He's still the Producer, he just stepped down from being Director(meaning that he's too valuable to toss out and TN knows on some level they fucked up since they didn't try to pin all of DOA6's problems on him like Nintendo and the Virtua Boy to Gunpei Yokoi).

And yeah, game development these days are becoming SUPREMELY expensive, some for the right reasons... but mostly the wrong reasons. Despite how much we say to delay games, because of the amount that's being put into games these days, the amount of people working on them and the returns... that's not really a question anymore of how much they can delay without some serious profit loss before the game even comes out.
Look at what happened to Anthem for the biggest example of that. 7 years of development hell and EA asked for the game to be released finally... and look at what they got? And that was millions down the hole that entire time while it was stuck like that for years.

Well, Anthem was delayed so many times because they changed the whole project vision several times but with games like DOA 6, that have a clear concept but "just" need a lot polishment, it shouldn't be a issue delaying it around 6 months ... but that is how Koei is treating almost all its franchises since 1 or 2 years ago.

Dynasty Warriors 9 was a fuck*** mess, Warriors All-Stars was an uninspired and rushed game, Atelier Lydie & Suelle was the worst Atelier in PS4 trilogy, Orochi Warriors 4 has evident lacks in comparison with older entries and also felt rushed, now DOA 6 have been released almost as a early access game and I'm starting to guess what will happen with Nioh 2.

Hell, even when I joke saying Xtreme is now the main DOA franchise, even releasing Venus Vacation and now Scarlet, they still don't fuck*** can add all females and older Xtreme 1 and Xtreme 2 minigames.

I guess for now Koei can make up their initial unit sales with several season passes in all their releases but once people get bored of their shi* they will have a big problem, like Capcom had years ago in the previous generation, with even people calling them Crapcom.

They can't keep these policies forever, this business model is seriously damaging their games quality and meanwhile people could support them buying DLCs in the past because they enjoyed their games is clear as the day right now people is getting tired of Koei shi*.

 

[NightAntilli]

Anthem was technically developed in 18 months, if this article is to be believed;
It’s a story of a video game that was in development for nearly seven years but didn’t enter production until the final 18 months, thanks to big narrative reboots, major design overhauls, and a leadership team said to be unable to provide a consistent vision and unwilling to listen to feedback.
https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

Basically, the issues described here are issues that many studios are plagued with. In the west, at least. I'm not sure if Japanese studios experience the same thing.
The idea that making video games has also become more expensive is.... Questionable. For that, I leave this here...

 

[Xhominid The Demon Within]

Anthem was technically developed in 18 months, if this article is to be believed;
It’s a story of a video game that was in development for nearly seven years but didn’t enter production until the final 18 months, thanks to big narrative reboots, major design overhauls, and a leadership team said to be unable to provide a consistent vision and unwilling to listen to feedback.
https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964

Basically, the issues described here are issues that many studios are plagued with. In the west, at least. I'm not sure if Japanese studios experience the same thing.
The idea that making video games has also become more expensive is.... Questionable. For that, I leave this here...

You are right, Video Games are not expensive to make, even current gen isn't expensive to make... but then you realize the reason is not as simple as you think of why studios pay so much out the ass(Red Dead Redemption 2's budget was $600 mil+) compared to games in the past(FFXIII has a budget of $50 mil).
Whatever has these studios put so much for videogames when their contemporaries like Cuphead cost nowhere near close to a mil... yeah.

 

[DestructionBomb]

Most of it stems from KT. Just worth mentioning from Manny (Master) a while back:

"Crazy how people still blame TN for problems my ninja".

Multiple factors involved other than Shimbori, we can't exactly only throw Shimbori under the bus.

 

[NightAntilli]

Yeah. Most of the time it's not the developers that are the issue, but the publishers. They normally demand some awful inclusion like micro-transactions, which ultimately damage the rest of the game, since implementing that also requires resources.

 

[Dr PaC]

Shimbori stepped down, huh? Well, I can understand I guess. It's a tough role to be taking constant fan criticism for every little thing on top of doing what your higher ups force you to do. A developer like Shimbori taking on a administrative role like that must've sucked, so I can sympathize. However, it was about time they made some changes considering the state the game is currently in. That being said, I still think the game plays great, it's definitely the most balanced 3d fighter right now and I have way more fun playing DOA over other games like Tekken or even SCVI. Everyone I get to try the game out for the first time love playing once they understand how the game works, so mechanically I feel its in a good place.

I think the changes they should focus on first are online play and fixing how they handle dlc going forward. Im glad they're addressing the SSA thing (even tho it didnt really bother me since you can just grab people out of it) but I also hope they address the "Rage Quit" issues this game is plagued with. It's high time they started punishing ragequitters cuz it's really outta hand at this point and my biggest grip about the game currently. I think it would also be cool if they added casual online mode for people who wanna have competitive matches without the stress of rank, like how SFV does it.
Really tho, all I want honestly from KT/TN at this point is simple, just add more characters and stages that fans want and/or introduce new ones, communicate with the player base better, and it would be nice if you threw your player base a bone and gave us some free content every once and a while as an apology for some recent slip ups.

Im optimistic going forward. I love this game.
Glad Shimbori is still with TN with seemingly no hard feelings.

 

[Jyu_Viole_Grace]

Shimbori stepped down, huh? Well, I can understand I guess. It's a tough role to be taking constant fan criticism for every little thing on top of doing what your higher ups force you to do. A developer like Shimbori taking on a administrative role like that must've sucked, so I can sympathize. However, it was about time they made some changes considering the state the game is currently in. That being said, I still think the game plays great, it's definitely the most balanced 3d fighter right now and I have way more fun playing DOA over other games like Tekken or even SCVI. Everyone I get to try the game out for the first time love playing once they understand how the game works, so mechanically I feel its in a good place.

I think the changes they should focus on first are online play and fixing how they handle dlc going forward. Im glad they're addressing the SSA thing (even tho it didnt really bother me since you can just grab people out of it) but I also hope they address the "Rage Quit" issues this game is plagued with. It's high time they started punishing ragequitters cuz it's really outta hand at this point and my biggest grip about the game currently. I think it would also be cool if they added casual online mode for people who wanna have competitive matches without the stress of rank, like how SFV does it.
Really tho, all I want honestly from KT/TN at this point is simple, just add more characters and stages that fans want and/or introduce new ones, communicate with the player base better, and it would be nice if you threw your player base a bone and gave us some free content every once and a while as an apology for some recent slip ups.

Im optimistic going forward. I love this game.
Glad Shimbori is still with TN with seemingly no hard feelings.

I would like to TN doing the same as SC VI team, a "community questions" in-person event:

https://www.bandainamcoent.com/news/evo-japan-soulcalibur-vi-community-questions-follow-up

This will let them (TN and Koei) to be a bit more in touch with fans desires.

 

[Xhominid The Demon Within]

Most of it stems from KT. Just worth mentioning from Manny (Master) a while back:

"Crazy how people still blame TN for problems my ninja".

Multiple factors involved other than Shimbori, we can't exactly only throw Shimbori under the bus.

I've said numerous times that this is on KT's shoulders, not TN and yet no one wants to believe me or continue to remain ignorant as they think every company is like Capcom in which it comes off as tied to the waist.

 

[Raansu]

I've said numerous times that this is on KT's shoulders, not TN and yet no one wants to believe me or continue to remain ignorant as they think every company is like Capcom in which it comes off as tied to the waist.

I think anyone with half a brain understands most of the problems in any game usually comes down to the publisher. Developers take some blame on certain things, but a core of it is usually the publishers.

 

[RayBellion]

The idea that making video games has also become more expensive is.... Questionable. For that, I leave this here...

I disagree. The linked video is more about the real "advantages" for the existence of micro-transactions than any proof of sinking production costs. I am pretty sure it's getting more expensive to make successful video games each year. Looking at the NPD sales data for 2018, for example, I only see expensive big budget productions and no Hellblade/Senua-budget games at the top. The market rewards high production value and the publishers react to that. That's an upward spiral that will continue.

Cuphead has sold approx. 3 Mio units worldwide and that's a huge exception. Nearly no low-budget title comes near one tenth of that mark. FIFA 18 has sold 24 Mio units, GTA 5 90 Mio. units, etc... we're talking a different league here. The customer's decision, not mine.

I think anyone with half a brain understands most of the problems in any game usually comes down to the publisher. Developers take some blame on certain things, but a core of it is usually the publishers.

Agreed. Being a game programmer often means low income, harsh working conditions and no respect from the customers ("why does this guy only works 6oh/week, the game's still got bugs. Shame on him"). From my own experience I am convinced that publishers are the ones setting the parameters (budget, time, target marketing,...). The developer's creation is confined to that parameters. Of course, not everyone in the company might be an ace in its job, just like everywhere else. The developer can be blamed for making false promises due to not forseeing problems or for being overly optimistic. That's a behavior provoced by the fact that usually they need to sell their development at the beginning to a publisher, while the future is yet very unknown. Very few studios can stem a multi-year-production budget without such external help. But even such internal sales talk is not done by any 3D artist or programmer, but by a few studio heads. If the world changes and publishers change their wishes, developers have to react ("okay, we WILL release before the competition releases their product" etc.). IMHO the developers are most of the time more victim than offender, because their ability to make decisions is severly reduced by the money guys and the world around them. Even with best intentions from everyone involved it's a tough world.

 

[Onryoki]

People who think Leon, Ein or gen fu will be part of the seasonpass are genuinely blind. I think the next characters after the KOF fighters are Momiji and Rachel (which should be the case). Leon and Ein should come in a free update, but i’d rather see new faces instead of those 2 filler slots. About Shimbori stepping up/demoted from his function probably was the best thing, he did 2 jobs at once. He took more than he can handle and now we are the victims of his incompetence. He should’ve stuck with just producing and leave the director part to somebody else, like now.

 

[Raansu]

Guest characters from another franchise should not be showing up before classic doa characters.

 

[Matt Ponton]

Damn, Shimbori got demoted lol.

He didn't. Producer out ranks Director. He opened up the director spot, and a member of Team NINJA got promoted. He still holds his existing Producer position and manages the Director. Man was over worked and now is off loading the work to help handle it.

 

[Xhominid The Demon Within]

I think anyone with half a brain understands most of the problems in any game usually comes down to the publisher. Developers take some blame on certain things, but a core of it is usually the publishers.

You say that... but you would be surprised at how many can't use their brains...

I disagree. The linked video is more about the real "advantages" for the existence of micro-transactions than any proof of sinking production costs. I am pretty sure it's getting more expensive to make successful video games each year. Looking at the NPD sales data for 2018, for example, I only see expensive big budget productions and no Hellblade/Senua-budget games at the top. The market rewards high production value and the publishers react to that. That's an upward spiral that will continue.

Cuphead has sold approx. 3 Mio units worldwide and that's a huge exception. Nearly no low-budget title comes near one tenth of that mark. FIFA 18 has sold 24 Mio units, GTA 5 90 Mio. units, etc... we're talking a different league here. The customer's decision, not mine.

And the worst part is that the market is NOT sustainable for that model and that's why you see the massive layoffs from Activision Blizzard and EA and companies continuing to close down more and more.
Those budgets titles even if they only get a million sales are usually successes because costs of making those budgets titles carry far less stress, far less issues due to less people working on it and won't send you straight to bankruptcy on a single failure.

Basically gaming companies are beginning to hit that gambler's fallacy where a single failure means the demise of that entire studio period... and that's not a good model to have.

 

[Rikuto]

He had two jobs and he stopped doing the lower end one because he has a bunch of projects and his attention was spread too thin. People who do the producer and director thing are usually people hyper focused on one specific project. Shimbori has a lot of projects. It wasn't working out.

This was exactly the right move. People treating it like its a demotion... lol. You don't get demoted by holding a higher position, guys.

 

[TheTHCGamer]

Even with all the issues I currently have with this game (I dont care what anyone says budget always plays a factor in the finish product) it's still currently my favorite fighting game.

In fact I'm skipping out on MK11 till the komplete edition is out because I plan on enjoying DoA6 and SamSho until then.

 

[Jyu_Viole_Grace]

The thing is ... how much will be able to "fix" the new director? Will Koei just be ok with all his/her proposals or will be the same situation because they won't want to invest more money?

Shimbori is still the PR dude even after all that PR mess last year