Team Ninja infamously announced the end of Dead or Alive 5 tournament support at NEC 18 late last year. However, despite that announcement, the development team recently announced an official side tournament at Evolution 2018. There’s now a new rumor going around about the possibility of a surprise DOA6 announcement coming at E3 2018, followed by a playable build at Evo to accompany the DOA5 side tournament. Read on to find out all of the details of this mysterious rumor, and how it may just add up to a Dead or Alive 6 announcement at E3 2018.
The End of DOA5
The Northeast Championships (NEC) tournament series has always been a big supporter of Dead or Alive, frequently having the largest player turnouts for a DOA event. Leading up to NEC 18 late last year, Team Ninja began to promote a special announcement that would follow the DOA5 finals at the event, which also served as the culmination of the 2017 Battle Royal tournament season for DOA5. Unfortunately, the announcement was simply a message from Team Ninja thanking the players for their continued support of the game, and ending official tournament support for DOA5, as the development team looked ahead toward the future of the series.
While the message was confusing at first, leaving many to believe that support for Dead or Alive as a series had been completed dropped, it was later clarified that Team Ninja would no longer support the DOA5 tournament scene (marking the end of the Battle Royal tournament series for DOA5) and instead focus their efforts on what’s to come (presumably DOA6). It was a sad time for DOA players, but a necessary step forward toward a potential new game.
DOA5 Evo Side Tournament
Six months later on May 22, 2018, Team Ninja makes a surprise announcement that Dead or Alive 5 will be an official Evo side tournament. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but there are two major factors to make note of. First off, DOA5 has had side tournaments at Evo before. This is a little different given that Evo now has an official side tournament stream, and this will be the first time DOA5 has been streamed at Evo in an official capacity. But why take this extra step after just announcing support for DOA5 tournaments was coming to an end with NEC 18?
We are delighted to announce DEAD OR ALIVE 5 Last
— Team NINJA (@TeamNINJAStudio) May 22, 2018
Round will be at @EVO this year with our official tournament
“DEAD OR ALIVE EVO Showdown 2018” #EVO2018 #DOA5LR
More info here: https://t.co/0x7s3YLnyV pic.twitter.com/H3vuZVPC8e
The second point of note is the timing. DOA5 initially released in 2012, making it nearly six years old by the time it hits the Evo side stream in early August. Why make such a big deal out of a side tournament for a six year old game that wasn’t supposed to have additional tournament support, and has had Evo side tournaments in the past?
DOA6 at E3 and Evo 2018
Evo 2018 takes place less than two months after E3 2018. If we take a leap of faith and assume there’s going to be a DOA6 announcement made at E3, it makes sense to celebrate with a big Evo tournament two months later. It makes even more sense to feature a playable build of DOA6 to go alongside the DOA5 Evo side tournament. Why else would you make such a big fuss about a game only six months after officially ending its tournament support?
Will we see DOA6 at E3 and Evo this year? The rumors are just now starting to appear, but the logic certainly adds up. Team Ninja already hinted at development of a new game when they announced the formal end of DOA5 tournament support. In addition, it’s been nearly six years since the release of DOA5, and Team Ninja has stated in the past that they would not let DOA go on another long hiatus (there was a seven year gap between DOA3 and DOA4).
The jury is still out on this one, but don’t be surprised if DOA fans finally get the long-awaited announcement of Dead or Alive 6 at E3 next month. Stay tuned to Twin Galaxies as we’ll have more on DOA5, Evo and potentially Dead or Alive 6 in the near future.
In other news, Team Ninja wouldn't be the only one gearing up to bring their best to E3 and EVO. Be sure to check out Dragon Ball FighterZ's upcoming DLC character Vegito, who saw some gameplay action recently.
