It’s straightforward to neglect that, earlier than the discharge of its first seaside volleyball spin-off, the Dead or Alive sequence had been taken pretty critically as preventing video games. We could have joked in regards to the ridiculous jiggle physics, however the authentic was nonetheless thought-about an honest successor to Virtua Fighter 2.
Nowadays, after all, the Dead or Alive sequence is a joke, promising that new entries will likely be much less jiggly, then turning round and flogging dozens of bikini, maid, and schoolgirl costumes as DLC. Which is why it is so absurd to learn Tomotoshi Nishimura, the manager in control of Koei Tecmo’s authorized affairs division, say that they had no selection however to take motion in opposition to fan artwork that may injury the picture of the Dead or Alive solid—as a result of their creators’ consider them “like daughters”.
The particular phrase used within the authentic Japanese is musume, which may imply “younger woman” in addition to “daughter”, however not solely is that also creepy on this context, it is a dated and overly formal use of the phrase. Nishimura virtually actually means “daughter” right here.
Nishimura was talking at a panel on mental property rights held at Tokyo Esports Festa, as reported by Game Watch. While he defined the corporate was grateful to its followers, and even sponsored the doujinshi conference Comiket, he additionally mentioned between 200 and 300 Dead or Alive doujinshi obtainable on-line had been suspended following authorized motion—in a single case for utilizing artwork from a recreation but to be launched. Nishimura additionally mentioned that Koei Tecmo takes motion in opposition to between 2,000 and three,000 works of fan artwork posted to social media and artist group Pixiv annually.
Further explaining the corporate’s stance, Nishimura prompt that some grownup Dead or Alive fan artwork might injury the characters’ picture, and that picture wanted to be protected as a result of different firms produced official merchandise of these characters. But additionally, , the daughter factor.
It’s not the primary time we have heard of Koei Tecmo taking authorized motion to guard the virtuous women of Dead or Alive. In 2021 it sued the producers of a DVD that used footage from nude mods. Meanwhile, the subsequent recreation within the sequence will likely be Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme, a courting sim with a images mode, which is able to solely be launched in choose Asian international locations.
