Dead or Alive 6 launched just two days ago, and it has already dived head first in to some incredible controversy. While KOEI Tecmo has yet to dabble in the more nefarious microtransactions or the dreaded lootboxes (we won’t go into that minefield), they have gone deep into mass DLC offerings. Though nothing encapsulates just how bad things are getting than the very first Season Pass for Dead or Alive 6.
The first Season Pass costs £73.99/$92.99, yes almost double the price of the base game itself (even more if you get the game at retail in UK). What do you get for this high price of a Season Pass? Well let’s delve into the details straight from the Steam Page:
DEAD OR ALIVE 6 Season Pass 1.
This Season Pass will apply to 62 costumes and 2 new characters released during the period of March 2019 – June 2019.
Note: The release period is subject to change.■ Season Pass 1 Bonus Content
– DOA6 NiCO Technomancer Gear
– DOA6 Nyotengu Wrestling Costume■ Featured Content
– DOA6 Happy Wedding Costumes Vol.1 (13 Costumes)
– DOA6 Happy Wedding Costumes Vol.2 (13 Costumes)
– DOA6 Costume Pack Vol.1 (13 Costumes)
– DOA6 Costume Pack Vol.2 (13 Costumes)
– DOA6 Additional Character Mai Shiranui
– DOA6 Mai Shiranui Debut Costumes (5 Costumes)
– DOA6 Additional New Character
– DOA6 Additional New Character Debut Costumes (5 Costumes)■ Note:
– The downloadable content included in this Season Pass will be release separately on later dates.
– Please visit the official website for more details: https://www.gamecity.ne.jp/doa6/
– Downloadable content not included in the list above may be released during the same period, but it will not be covered by this Season Pass 1.
– All content included in this Season Pass will also be sold separately. Please beware of redundant purchases.
– You must purchase the characters before using these costumes.
So two new characters and a bunch of costumes that are purely of cosmetic nature. To top it all off, none of the content (aside the Season Pass bonus) is even ready to release yet. That is one massive down payment for what leads to be such a lack of content. Even one of the fighters (an unannounced KOF collab) isn’t even known yet.
This has been a stark contrast to just how the industry as a whole has changed and how KOEI Tecmo are trying to squeeze every penny they can out of every piece of content – especially when back in the day all of these would of been simply unlockables by playing the game itself.
Let’s look back at Dead or Alive Ultimate on the original XBOX for example. Every character had 20+ costumes you could unlock by completing certain challenges, playing through story modes and other actions within the game. No added costs, no needing a license to unlock more, just gained through playing the game.
It is a shame also this stigma has to come along with Dead or Alive 6, as we shared in our pre-review impressions, the game itself is fun and filled with quite a lot of content on it’s own. Our full review will hopefully be arriving early in the coming week.
What are your thoughts on a high priced DLC pack over other means of monetisation in games? Are you hyped for future content for Dead or Alive 6? Let us know in those comments!
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KOEI Tecmo Warriors 
Nice article but you could dig a little deeper. Right now you’re not really saying anything that hasn’t been said already. When it comes to DOA, didn’t this problem start with DOA5: Last Round (doesn’t it cost over $1000 to buy all DLC?) And with DW series it started with DW7.
Could you perhaps try to get an interview from one of the employees at KOEI-Tecmo and hear their thoughts on the matter? I don’t know any other major game company with this kind of weird Season Pass pricing policy. SP1 for DW9 was still reasonable (though it was ridiculous that 4 extra scenarios only costed 1 € less than the whole season pass…) but they’ve definitely gone overboard with SP2 and SP3 as they cost 50 € each. And what do you get for that price? Some new weapons (which all aren’t even “new” as they’re from previous entries), 4 new scenarios (granted, they’re unique what-ifs and can easily take +5h to complete which isn’t that bad) and… a whole bunch of costumes which are only a cosmetic value.
Anyone would expect to get a lot more content for 50 € and not just weird looking or out-of-place costumes… Costumes used to be a thing for DOA series and it sucks to see that now most of the extra content for Warriors series seems to be just costumes. I’m pretty sure players would be more interested in seeing new characters, weapons, scenariors, game modes etc. instead
What’s worse is, at least in UK/Europe, the season passes never go on sale. Spider-Man for PS4 is still quite a new game and even it has had a sale on season pass.
Thanks for your response, it’s really appreciated. I’m still getting the hang of doing this style of article, but will put more of an in-depth analysis (if required) in future editions.
As for DOA5LR, I’ve seen many of the videos covering it, but the pricing (shown via the Steam DLC list) seems to be skewed as I believe (may be wrong) the DLC list covers both individual packs and the sets they are bundled together with (effectively purchasing the same DLC more than once at that bundled “full” price). It is stupid for KT to have the DLC listed like that either way.
Dynasty Warriors 7 and 8 both had quite a lot of additional DLC, however aside the costumes (which even back then at a way cheaper price felt steep), the actual content packs – like the DW3/DW5 remade levels, new weapons etc – were reasonably priced at a few quid a pop.
As for interviews and that, I’ll have to speak with some guys over at KT Europe and see if we can arrange anything, so thanks for that feedback!