Team Ninja and Tecmo Koei seem set on breaking new ground in the fighting genre with their upcoming re-release Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. They've announced Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate: Core Fighters. Core Fighters will be available for free download when it releases in North America and Europe later this year. The game will be a bare bones version of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, including only four playable characters and all of the game's modes except for the story campaign.

The four characters included in Core Fighters are Kasumi, Ayane, Hayate, and Ryu Hayabusa. Furthermore, once they've installed Core Fighters, players can choose to purchase any additional characters from the full game's playable roster for only $3.99 per character. Are you one of the players who typically only uses a handful of the game's fighters? If so, this model could save you some money. You'll also be able to purchase the game's story campaign for $14.99.

The website makes no mention of Core Fighters for the Xbox 360, so as far as we know this is a PS3 exclusive thing for now. Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate: Core Fighters will launch on the same day as Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. That's September 3rd for North America and September 6th for Europe. Although Core Fighters appears to be PS3 exclusive, Ultimate will be available for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

So what do you guys think of this new free-to-play model? I've never seen anything like this for a fighter and it sounds like a very feature rich demo. I think they might be offering a bit too much content for free, but I hope it works out well for them.