Publisher Koei Tecmo has announced that Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, a series known for featuring scantily clad women, will be getting PlayStation VR support later this year. One of PlayStation VR’s first games to release in Japan, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 involves a fair amount of what many will characterize as sexual harassment — directed toward its female virtual characters.
It’s not too hard to imagine how VR and beach-bodied women would look as a game. It involves a lot of in-your-face angles and some inappropriate touching. But since these girls are virtual, they continue to stand there as they are probed and prodded. That’s not to say the women are enjoying it. In game, they will ask the player to stop, and even scream.
Japanese site Gamer was able to get some video footage of what it would look like to actually play the game. It requires a surprising amount of movement, depending on how intricately the player wants to view in-game assets.
Dead of Alive Xtreme 3 started a discussion late last year when Koei Tecmo decided not to release the game in the West. Many speculated that this was due to recent sensitivities in regards to the portrayal of women in games, though the decision could also have been tied to sales. Interestingly, Shuhei Yoshida, Sony’s president of worldwide studios, said in an interview with 4Gamer (translated by Twitter user Mombot) that “it’s due to cultural differences. The West has it’s own thinking about how to depict women in games media which is different from Japan.”
This was corroborated by Tecmo in a reply to a fan question on Facebook. Although the post wasn’t written by a native English speaker, the message was clear. Essentially it said that the issue of how to treat women in games was the basis for Tecmo’s decision not to bring the game to the West.
Luckily, Western fans can still play the game in English. Although the game was only released in Asian territories, to accommodate some areas within Asia, such as Singapore, it was given an English translation. Site Play Asia was very forward about getting the game to Western fans.
#DOAX3 will not be coming to the US due to #SJW nonsense. However, we will have the English Asia version available: https://t.co/u03t7NC3RU
— Play-Asia.com (@playasia) November 25, 2015
