Koei Tecmo responds to Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 sexism controversy

Publisher Koei Tecmo has finally issued a response to the contrversial comments made by one of its employees regarding the western release, or rather non-release, of Team Ninja's beach volleyball sim Dead or Alive Xtreme 3.

Last week, a community manager for Team Ninja reaffirmed on Facebook that the game, which features a rather sexual lineup of female characters in some pretty racey beach attire, was for Japan and Asian territories only.

“We do not bring DOAX3 to the west and won't have any plan change in the future. Thank you for asking," the community manager said.

But the real controversial comments came after the developer was pressed for more details. Rather than respond with some PR fluff, the community manager was straightforward and blunt when pointing out the hot-button issues surrounding the representation of women in video games.

"Do you know many issues happening in video game industry with regard to how to treat female in video game industry? We do not want to talk those things here. But certainly we have gone through in last year or two to come to our decision. Thank you."

Naturally, the internet intepreted those comments to mean that Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja had bowed to social pressure over the portrayal of Dead or Alive's female fighters. And rather than risk a sh*tstorm of controversy brought on by social justice warriors, they simply rather not release Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 in the Americas and Europe.

In response to these beliefs, publisher Koei Tecmo Games issued the following statement:

The comments recently made by an employee regarding Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 on the official Dead or Alive Facebook page only reflect that individual's opinion and not the opinion or business strategy of Koei Tecmo Games.

We remain focused on delivering the best in fighting entertainment to our fans around the world, while consciously respecting and strategizing to support the different global audiences the Dead or Alive franchise lends itself to.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 remains in development and is still planned for release in Japan and Asia only.

So basically, America and Europe are now being viewed as a collective audience of oversensitive crybullies. Rather than giving consumers the ability to make their own purchasing decisions, the cries of a loud minority are instead limiting our freedom of choice.