The Big Game: Dead or Alive 5: Last Round

MCV:

Now one of Koei Tecmo’s flagship franchises, Dead or Alive started out as the result of a bet.

Finding Tecmo (as it was then) in a financial slump in the early 1990s, programmer Tomonobu Itagaki bet the publisher’s president that he could create a hit IP. Named Dead or Alive for its decisive status in the company’s future, the fighting series took off – and almost two decades later continues to boast a fervent fanbase.

In fact, the DoA community is so passionate that the series’ developer, Team Ninja, was convinced to bring the franchise’s latest instalment – Dead or Alive 5 – to PS4 and Xbox One almost solely on the back of fan support.

“Dead or Alive 5 had already been released for PS3 and Xbox 360, but we heard a lot of requests from the public saying that they would like to play on PS4 and Xbox One after the hardware launched in the West,” recalls Yosuke Hayashi, Team Ninja leader and producer for the title.