An unnamed man is being sued by Koei Tecmo for selling a Dead or Alive DVD full of nude mods. The specific game in question is the Japanese-only release Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation, which features the characters in extremely small bikinis. The franchise is best-known for its female characters, but there is never any nudity included in the games themselves, though some of the bikinis are barely there. Regardless, Koei Tecmo was not amused when they discovered that a DVD with nude mods was being sold on an auction site.
Japanese outlet Famitsu says the Dead or Alive footage was modded for “the removal of character clothing,” and that it was being sold. According to a new report, Koei Tecmo is “pursuing the suit as a case of malicious copyright infringement, and plans to bring both a criminal case and a civil suit against the alleged” author of the nude modded disc. The 3D fighting game is a massive worldwide franchise. In 2015, ahead of the release of Dead or Alive 5: Last Round, which was the first DOA game to come to PC, game director Yohei Shimbori asked PC gamers to “play our game in good moral and manner.”
While Yohei Shimbori didn’t mention nudity specifically, he did declare that if the Dead or Alive games were not played in “good moral and manner,” they would not make them for the PC anymore. It is unclear if Shimbori will instruct Koei Tecmo to halt producing the titles for the PC platform after the nude mods found their way online and for sale. You can read the full statement from Koei Tecmo below.
“Reproduction (including some modifications), distribution, and distribution of our copyrighted work without our permission is an act that infringes the rights of the copyright holder and is illegal. We will take decisive measures against such illegal acts. We will continue to take strict measures against copyright infringement and strive to provide games that satisfy our fans. We don’t deny derivative work but we may take action based on a) discomfort felt by our fans and b) the feelings of the developers.”
Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation allows players to invite women to a private island, where they can determine who the strongest is. It also allows them to determine who the most beautiful is. The Dead or Alive installment is currently only available for Japanese players on the Steam site and it’s unclear if it will be made for North American players. Regardless, if it is, Koei Tecmo will likely go out of their way to make sure that the game cannot be modded to include nude women in various sexual positions, like the DVD.
As of this writing, Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation is still available to Japanese video game players on Steam. However, it would not be surprising to see it get taken down after hearing Yohei Shimbori’s warning from 2015. It’s unclear how many copies of the nude modded Dead or Alive DVD that the unnamed man was able to sell, but it was enough to catch the attention of Koei Tecmo. PC Gamer was one of the first outlets to report on the Dead or Alive nude mod DVD.
