Dead or Alive 5 - Development

Development

By January 2010, rumors about the new Dead or Alive game being developed for the PlayStation 3 had already circulated. GameSpot has listed the game as being exhibited by Tecmo Koei at their booth during the E3 2010. Dead or Alive 5 was officially announced in September 2011 at the Tokyo Game Show in September 14, 2011, for a 2012 release. The first trailer, released on December 7, 2011, showcased Ryu Hayabusa and Hayate doing battle on top of an under-construction skyscraper which is eventually destroyed by a stray beam swinging from a crane, revealing the more intricate environmental interaction as well as a new attack of Hayate. Producer Yosuke Hayashi said that the teaser image revealed at the event represents the sensuality that the game is now seeking to portray in a more sophisticated tone. At the time, the game was said to be only "15% complete". Hayashi said that his team was committed to making the environment more involved in the fighting experience than ever before and that they took "a lot of inspiration" from Naughty Dog's action-adventure game series Uncharted for a creation of the more interactive and destructible stages and the dramatic Cliffhanger events.

The game engine of DOA5 was built from scratch. To better balance the fighting system, Team Ninja decided to re-examine each of the characters, creating new moves from scratch when needed and carefully refining others. According to Hayashi, the entire project's main concept was a decision to change direction and to focus on the characters' presence instead of on their beauty as in the previous games. They aimed to retain the characters' personalities and characteristics but to make them more lifelike and appealing for the players. On October 28, 2011, the series' official Facebook page announced a contest inviting fans to create and submit their own fighting moves, some of which would be used in DOA5 and their creators would have their names displayed in the game's credits. Regarding an introduction of playable guest characters from the Virtua Fighter series, the characters' key animations were provided by Sega and Team Ninja created some more while working to implement them into the Dead or Alive gameplay system, which uses similar controls but features a different kind of matches. Hayashi said Team Ninja stayed in "very close" communication with Sega AM2: "We got their guidance and feedback, we got them to check for everything we were doing with the characters." Hasayshi also said that he aimed to develop a crossover game in a manner similar to Street Fighter X Tekken and that he chose Virtua Fighter because it was "the father of 3D gaming", and also the first 3D game that he played and the IP he personally respects most.

Early on, Hayashi said they attempted to move on from relying just on sex and violence: "We’re trying to focus on the real women that surround us; the voice of a female, the mannerisms. We are being realistic about it. We want to show something that’s more high class, that adult males of our generation could look at a woman and be impressed with her as a woman, not just as a pin-up," as opposed to the previous concept of just "make her breasts big and just make them jiggle." Dead or Alive 5's overseas producer Peter Garza said the game' revised aesthetic direction: "Dead or Alive is known for its sexiness and high-kicking characters and certain aspects of the physics engine... Those are definitely going to be in Dead or Alive 5 - it's part of the series, it's part of its history and it's part of why people like it. But we're trying to take a bit more of a mature take on it." After the release, the game's director Yohei Shimbori said they were originally "getting feedback from the overseas offices to tone down the sexuality -- to tone down the sexiness of the game, and of the characters." However, the team then changed their decision due to negative feedback from fans who were playing the alpha demo version who demanded bigger breasts. Shimbori said: "That was kind of surprising. There's definitely still room for having sexualized aspects," adding that he "really tries" to take fan feedback into account and to keep an open mind. Hayashi himself made a 180 turn from his previous position. Asked "what would you say to those people who think that the bikini-clad babes in DOA5 are sexist," he said their goal was to create "the cutest chicks in videogames" and so they made a lot of effort to develop an advanced breast physics model that works differently with various types of clothing. Their product received the ESRB rating of Mature 17+ (Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Violence).

In February 2012, Team Ninja hosted a series of press events in various locations across the world, showcasing the alpha demo of the game. Further screenshots have confirmed Hitomi and Ayane to be playable, while Kasumi was featured in a promotional poster. A trailer unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in March 2012 revealed that the game would include Virtua Fighter's Akira Yuki. In May 2012, Tecmo Koei attended London MCM Expo, showcasing a playable demo version of the game. Dead or Alive 5 tournament was also held on the GameSpot stage. In June, Tecmo Koei attended the E3 2012, where the live-streamed IPN (IGN Pro League) Dead or Alive 5 championship was held with a new beta demo version of the game. A trailer for the event revealed another Virtua Fighter guest character, Sarah Bryant. June saw the emergence of a new trailer confirming the addition of a brand new character to the series, Rig. In July, Tecmo Koei's official YouTube channel MyKOEITV released a trailer showcasing tag team gameplay and showing a female fighter wearing a luchadora mask, later revealed to be La Mariposa. The "Official Declaration" trailer released in August confirmed the return of Alpha-152. In September, two weeks before the game's release, Tecmo Koei announced another brand new character to join the roster, a female vale tudo and kickboxing artist named Mila, while Virtua Fighter's Pai Chan was also revealed to make an appearance. The game's launch trailer was released on September 19, 2012.