Recent Dead or Alive series spin-off entries like Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation (DOAXVV) and Venus Vacation Prism: Dead or Alive Xtreme have unfortunately not been officially released outside of Japan and select Asian countries. However, this hasn’t stopped fans in the West from interacting with these games – so much so that the overseas response has come as a surprise to DOAXVV’s developers.
Automaton recently interviewed Yasunori Sakuda about his involvement in Koei Tecmo’s new Atelier Resleriana console game, but he was kind enough to give us some insight about DOAXVV and Venus Vacation Prism, which he is also the producer of. Sakuda says that, despite the fact that DOAXVV never got a Western release, its successor Venus Vacation Prism has received a surprising amount of feedback from players in Europe and the US.
“I’m extremely happy about the response. Frankly, we had a hard time predicting how users outside of Japan would react to this kind of immersive dating game, so the reaction has been very informative for us,” Sakuda comments.
Interestingly, the producer also suggests that the feedback of Western and Japanese fans was equally considered when developing Venus Vacation Prism. “When we first announced the title, we received some voices of concern – even from users outside Japan – about the girls’ designs. We continued to make adjustments to the visuals after that, and as we released updated footage during development, we gradually began to see more and more positive reactions. In the end, I believe we were able to create designs that many people found appealing. We’re truly grateful to have received feedback from around the world.”
Venus Vacation Prism released in March this year for PC and PS5/PS4. As opposed to DOAXVV, which is a free-to-play live-service game, the new release is a full-priced, single-purchase dating simulator. Instead of DOAXVV’s Yawaraka Engine, it was developed in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty’s Katana Engine to bump up the realism and heighten sensory immersion. The game currently has a Mostly Positive status on Steam, and according to the dev team’s past remarks, it has been a reasonable success, considering its niche genre.
Although Venus Vacation Prism has English language support, it is – like its predecessor – region-locked. However, given that responses to the game have provided its creators with a new perspective on how much the series is in demand overseas, perhaps future developments in the franchise will make things more accessible for Western players.
