The release of the Dead or Alive 6: Last Fight remake has been a disastrous failure for Koei Tecmo. With only a 31% positive rating on Steam, the game continues to anger series fans with each new DLC release. The main controversies focus on the exorbitant pricing of new outfits and comprehensive censorship mechanisms that players feel have completely stripped the series of its soul.
The developers launched Last Fight with promises of restored update support, but players point out that the game has seen almost no substantive changes. Technically, it is long outdated, with many issues heavily criticized in the original Dead or Alive 6 remaining unresolved. The pricing of the new outfit DLCs, the only content released for Last Fight, has sparked outrage. While individual outfits in the original game cost around $2, single color variants now cost $8, and four-color bundles reach $21. Furthermore, each new content release faces criticism for being monotonous, cluttered, or simply ugly in design.
The censorship of outfits has sparked particularly strong protests. The new Honoka DLC released on August 6 features her chest obscured by a glaring white light on the Steam store page, while official screenshots show black bars covering the characters' chests and groin areas. These bars are part of a special mode added to the game specifically for esports tournament broadcasts. Although players can disable this feature in-game, the developer deliberately chose to use censored images on the Steam store page.
This decision has further angered players against the backdrop of increasing censorship in Koei Tecmo's other recent projects. A consensus is gradually forming within the community that the recently announced Dead or Alive 7 is unlikely to change the company's current direction. Many fans have publicly stated that they would rather see the series end than continue to linger in its current state.