You simply cannot deny the strange sense of concern surrounding Dead or Alive 5. It will be the first title in the series not to be overseen and directed by creator Tomonobu Itagaki. Team Ninja has regrouped and presented itself as a collected and focused team of developers in the face of losing Itagaki, but the game may still be affected. How it will be affected and exactly how much are what I'm personally most concerned with.
Yosuke Hayashi answered some interesting questions in a recent interview. The team is composed mostly of people who worked very closely with Itagaki himself. That suggests that the core aspects of DOA - the ones that make up the series - will remain intact. Hit the break to see what Hayashi-san had to say.
Itagaki was the face of Team Ninja for a long time. Now that he’s gone, how has that impacted the franchise?
Yosuke Hayashi: We understand that Itagaki was the father of these franchises. I personally was under him, a member of the team working on the franchises, and the rest of the staff members that are now coming to the forefront for Team Ninja were also raised in that environment under him. So it’s… We feel like it’s our duty to raise the IP and raise the franchises that he created, raise them up like our own children and see them grow and see them flourish. That’s what we’re focusing on as a team, to keep that going and make them grow.
Hit the source for the full interview.