DOA Community Blog #8: CCC2: Mass Misconstrued Marketing

As the title suggests, this is the (unexpected) "sequel" to a blog topic I had discussed a while back called "Chaotic Costume Controversy", which generally explained the nonsensical reasons people don't give certain fighting games a chance solely because of costume choices, when sex appeal has been quite prevalent in many fighting games of the past, and well-accepted by the masses, at that.

However, today's blog topic "sequel" is gonna take a different perspective.  Not toward the mentality of the consumer, but Team Ninja's marketing direction and how it's slowly taking away the momentum of its original slogan following the resurrection of their flagship fighting game series "Dead or Alive" back in 2011...

Not too long ago earlier this month,  Team Ninja has graced us with yet another major (and admittingly unexpected) update:

Many DOA fans were ecstatic, while some others had their concerns that Team Ninja was following Capcom's self-destructive route a little too closely.  Either way, Yosuke Hayashi - the new head of Team Ninja and Tomonobu Itagaki's successor - went on the record saying that this will, in fact, be the last major update for the successful sequel.  That being said, there are many expectations to be had.  Team Ninja was expected to pull out all the stops in presenting the game well.  

The first of these attempts? Announcing that this particular update will not only be on the previous generation consoles Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, but also the current generation consoles Xbox One and Playstation 4.  Both are assumed to be essentially the same game, but in order to differentiate both generations of consoles, Team Ninja suggests that the current gen consoles will include a "Soft Engine". A texture-enriching tool that allows more realistic skin tones and - more profoundly - better breast movement for the females in particular.

With Tokyo Game Show not too far off, you would think that's not the only thing they have up their sleeve when showing off the game... that they would at least have some of the best players in Japan repping some decent level of play ( if not necessarily the best) like some other fighting games were, such as Ultra Street Fighter 4.  Unfortunately, this didn't happen.  Too much of the focus went toward the current gen's Soft Engine, whereas gameplay discussion seemed to be a mere afterthought.  However, it wasn't all bad news.  Reportedly, there will not only be a new unannounced female character, but apparently a "resurrected" male character that "many fans will be happy with".  Many speculate it will be the original Tengu or Raidou.  What's more, as far as stages go, it was confirmed that not only will the Crimson stage from Dead or Alive 2 be returning...

But a reimagining of the classic Dead or Alive 1 stage, with explosive floors on the outer rim of the ring like in the days of old...

Even so, the Tokyo Game Show showcase stream wasn't all that exciting for most fans looking to eagerly anticipate it, even less so for competitive gamers who were expecting a demonstration for gameplay changes.

And if that wasn't a nail in the coffin for some fans, immediately after the showing, another DLC set was announced in the typical fetishistic fashion.  And once again, Rachel, Christie, Lisa, and all the male characters were once again denied a new costume for their respective fans to be excited for once again.

At this point, the fans had every reason to be concerned about the direction they're going in promoting the game.  Some pondered whether Team Ninja was following the money so much that they forgot they were making a fighting game. Granted, it made them money and secured a huge pot prize for an upcoming major tournament event in two weeks following this blog, but it's gotten to a point that they're overselling certain costumes with certain characters a bit too much.  In the process, it almost seems that they had forgotten the "I'm a Fighter" slogan which put them on the map once again with the fighting game community to begin with.  One such fan, Ronnie Hall, had addressed this concern on the Dead or Alive Game Facebook page yesterday:

To Team Ninja--

A serious question: is your "I'm a Fighter" slogan meant to be ironic? I've seen a translation of the interview that producer Yousuke Hayashi did with Famitsu and it was...rather embarrassing to read. That coupled with the fact that another set of what I can only describe as "fetish" bunny DLC for only female characters (not even all of them, showing repeated neglect of a few) is really starting to make me question it.

I'm glad that you all seem to be supporting the tournament scene, but it doesn't look like you're treating many of your own characters with the dignity that they perhaps deserve. Your main draw for the Tokyo Game Show appeared to be nothing but displaying how nice the females' breasts look on next-gen hardware via your "soft engine". You claim that you want the public to view this as a serious fighting game, but I don't think you realize how detrimental coverage like what was seen at the Tokyo Game Show may be to that goal. There was even a snippet in a recent Game Informer magazine making fun of your current business practices.

It appears that you are alienating many fans of the game with your DLC practices, e.g. perhaps fans who have a male character as their favorite, in addition to many that would like to see more unique costumes and less themed, shared costumes. Do you ever plan on releasing DLC not "sexy" or "naughty" and more inline with the Casual or Legacy DLCs? Or are those simply not worth the time and cost investment?

Many people have been asking for such for a long time now, only to be repeatedly sidelined in favor of more and more "sexy" outfits and even gravure videos. Have you forgotten that your male characters exist? Do you realize how ridiculous the gap in the number of costumes between male characters and female characters has become, for instance? As long as you have the characters in the game at all, I feel like you should be treating them a little more fairly than you have been. Not only do they not receive costumes, they are modeled more poorly, and not promoted nearly as much in advertising for the game. Various other fighting games seem to do a better job in these areas.

Does it even concern you what people think of the male characters? If not, then why are they in the game in the first place? I don't think you are giving them to chance to become more popular.

I'm trying to write this as evenhandedly as possible so it won't be taken as just an angry rant. But, I'm worried. I think that you may be in danger of losing a decent portion of fans when it may not have to be that way. I think that there are a number of things to be enjoyed about the Dead or Alive series. But, if you are only concerned with promoting and exploiting how sexy the female characters are, anything else good about the series may be obscured. I don't think the sex appeal should be outright removed. But, I don't think that everything should proceed in this exact manner.

We are coming upon the dawn of an even further version of Dead or Alive 5. I hope that you will somewhat consider the ways that you have been handling some of your affairs moving forward. I'm not even sure that I can defend or support this series in any way for much longer and I've been following the series for 16+ years now.

Sincerely,
A Fan

Please understand, this blog is not intended to bash Team Ninja, but rather to make folks aware that if this is gonna be their last major update for DOA5, they're gonna have to dig deeper than just sex appeal to market their game as a more respectable fighting game, because as of late, at least in my opinion, they've lost focus. First, they'll have to focus on gameplay. What's new to the fighting engine? What tweaks have been made?  Will they attempt to make tag more competitively viable in most players' eyes?  

Second, they'll have to focus on even the male characters more for a change.  They've always been getting the short end of the stick, almost to the point where they've been ignored almost entirely for more awesome costumes.  Given the capabilities of the current gen consoles that should give them incentive to put more effort into them as they already do the females.  Yes, I'm aware that the females are the show-stoppers and they sell the game, but going that extra mile will draw more respect from fans and convince more people this is in fact a fighter that puts equal care into both genders of the roster like some other games do.  

Heck, personally I want them to give this game an actual Attract Mode following the title screen like most other fighters.  When I leave the game idle, I want a reason to be attracted to it when I walk into a local... a kick-ass cinematic, a gameplay demo, anything!  It would also be nice if they added all the music from every version of DOA1. They already have "Superstar", so they may as well finish what they started. 

All things considered, I really hope Team Ninja's aware of the outcry of some fans and are convinced they need to do something different pertaining to the aforementioned.  If not, then I'm afraid the outcry is going to get worse, and I'll likely end up doing a blog trilogy...