Evo Japan pulls plug on Dead or Alive 6 stream, issues apology for sexual content
"We sincerely apologise to our fans."
Evo Japan pulled the plug on a western stream that saw sexual content used to promote upcoming fighting game Dead or Alive 6.
Evo Japan, the Fukuoka event spin-off of the main Evo tournament, saw Dead or Alive 6 producer and game director Yohei Shimbori pause the game as a male and female character were in a sexual position. Shimbori then moved the camera around to get a better look.
But before then, Team Ninja had Japanese gravure idols Yuka Kuramochi and Saki Yoshida draw attention to their breasts on-stage, spank each other and even bounce their breasts around.
After Evo Japan's main English stream was pulled, tournament organiser Joey "Mr. Wizard" Cuellar published a now deleted tweet (archived by EventHubs) saying: "The DOA ad that aired on our stream does not reflect the core values of EVO or the FGC.
"We ended the stream temporarily to protect the integrity of the brand. We sincerely apologize to our fans."
EVO business development head Mark "MarkMan" Julio apologised on stream when the main English broadcast returned, saying it incident "does not reflect the content or intention of Evo".
It appears the Evo Japan organisers were surprised by Team Ninja's Dead or Alive 6 showcase. Evo and other fighting game tournaments often reserve on-stage time for developers to showcase their new fighting games. I suspect Team Ninja won't be welcome back on-stage at Evo for some time.
Dead or Alive 6 has been mired in controversy since its announcement at E3 2018. Then, Shimbori told Eurogamer Team Ninja had toned down the female sexualisation the series is infamous for.
However, at a recent hands-on event, we found Dead or Alive 6 hasn't toned down the sexualisation, it's just tucked it away.