Dead or Alive 4’s 20th anniversary has sadly gone overlooked. Read on to learn more about what this 20-year-old fighter accomplished and what the future holds for the series.
Dead or Alive 4 20th Anniversary is a Milestone that Many Forgot
Dead or Alive Found More Dead Than Alive
Twenty years is a long time in any industry, but in video games, it is an absolute eternity. This December 29, 2025, marked exactly two decades since Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) first hit Japanese store shelves. Despite this achievement, however, the date arrived at a strange time for the franchise. The series has been largely dormant since the post-launch support of Dead or Alive 6 ended years ago, so fans are in a bit of a limbo. There is a certain irony in celebrating the start of the fighting game series’ technical and visual influence while the brand itself stagnates as an afterthought.
Back in 2005, the industry was transitioning to high-definition gaming. The Xbox 360 was the new powerhouse on the block, and Team Ninja, then led by the late Tomonobu Itagaki, used DOA4 as a massive flex of what that hardware could do. It was the game you played to prove to your friends that "next-gen" gaming had truly arrived. The stages were massive and broke apart as you fought, and the lighting made the characters look better than ever.
It redefined the 3D fighting genre by achieving a level of visual fidelity and environmental depth that was previously unseen in the medium. In a 2005 press release, the rendering of "each strand of the character’s hair" and "each falling cherry blossom" were specifically cited as proof that the game was the most realistic-looking video game of its era.
Fast forward to the 29th, and… nothing. The game’s 20th anniversary came and went without a single update on the future of the series.
It is a difficult time to be in as a fan. On the one hand, the community is still very much alive and often debate whether or not we’ll be getting a new game this year or the next. On the other hand, the lack of news makes you wonder where the series fits in a modern market dominated by its old rivals, like Tekken and Street Fighter. So, where does the series go from here? Is there still a future for this 3D ninja tournament?
As we look back on twenty years of DOA4, it’s hard not to feel nostalgic for those early Xbox 360 days while remaining frustrated that such a high-tier fighter remains a relic of a previous generation. The franchise hasn’t been forgotten by those who played it, but under the circumstances, it feels like Team Ninja has.
DOA4's a Complex Fighter Full of Fan Service
In the days leading up to this anniversary, I’ve found myself checking news feeds more often than usual, hoping for a shadow-drop or even just a teaser image. However, as of late December 2025, the silence from Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja has been deafening. There is no remaster of the classic titles on the schedule, and no official word on a Dead or Alive 7.
It’s strange because it’s not like the studio is inactive. In fact, 2025 has been a huge year for them. They’ve spent the last twelve months celebrating "The Year of the Ninja," which saw the launch of Ninja Gaiden 4 and a remaster for Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. Despite Ryu Hayabusa’s resurgence, the tournament that defined his early career has yet to see a similar revival. Even during this year’s Tokyo Game Show, announcements prioritized Nioh 3 and various other action projects instead.
Even the spin-off side of the series, such as the Xtreme games, has seen more recent activity with titles like Venus Vacation PRISM; however, the fighting game community has been left with no indication that the main series will return anytime soon.
The silence today feels even more stark when you remember how much noise DOA4 made when it launched in 2005. It was the series’ big debut on the Xbox 360. Reviewers were obsessed with the "spectacle" of it all. It currently holds an 85/100 on Metacritic, a score that reflects a time when the series was seen as a technical marvel.
Stages felt like a living part of the fight; you could be hit by a car in Gambler’s Paradise or knocked through a wall into a whole new area. Some levels even featured moving hazards like the animals in the Safari stage or dinosaurs in the Jurassic area. These are innovations we take for granted now, but back then, they felt like a glimpse into the future. The stages are so vast and detailed that it is almost impossible to see everything they have to offer in a single match. You could play a hundred rounds and still find a new destructible wall you hadn’t noticed before.
More than its pretty-looking graphics, though, DOA4 was, for many who grew up in that era, one of the definitive competitive fighting game experiences on Xbox Live. It helped pioneer the way we play fighting games online today by introducing social lobbies where you could walk around as an avatar and spectate other players’ matches. It was even the first fighting game to ever be broadcast on TV via the (now-defunct) Championship Gaming Series.
However, although the critical reception of DOA4 was glowing at first, the actual legacy of the game is much messier when you look at it through the eyes of the people who played it every day. Even twenty years later, the community is still divided on how the game actually plays. Many love the visuals and the new characters like Kokoro and La Mariposa, but the same is less true on the gameplay changes.
Team Ninja added Bounce Combos, a mechanic that changed the flow of fights by allowing certain attacks to bounce an opponent off the ground. In earlier games, once an opponent hit the floor, the combo was usually over. Here, you could extend your juggles and keep the pressure going.
Paralleling this increase in complexity was a tightening of the game’s defensive windows Team Ninja decided to reduce the active frames for the "counter" or "hold" system. This required players to be much more precise with their timing.
Purists appreciated the higher execution ceiling, as it made the game feel more like a "real" competitive fighter. Others, however, found that it made the game feel frustratingly difficult, especially when combined with a boss like Alpha-152, who remains one of the most hated enemies in fighting game history.
At the same time, as critics and the competitive scene focused on frames, the general public began to see Dead or Alive through a different lens, one shaped by the series’ long-standing emphasis on its female cast. DOA4 was the entry where the series truly became synonymous with its "jiggle physics" and sexualized female characters.
Sex appeal was always central to the series, but the game pushed it to a point where the marketing and the character designs began to overshadow the actual fighting mechanics in the eyes of the mainstream. This is most evident in the new fighter Christie’s suggestive outfits and the focus on skin textures. For many casual observers, the game stopped being seen as a deep 3D fighter and started being viewed as a piece of "fan service" software.
Will We See Dead or Alive 7 in 2026?
Dwelling on the game's past mistakes is an exercise in futility. However, looking toward the future of the series feels equally futile. It is important to remember that DOA4 was the last mainline title directed by series creator Tomonobu Itagaki, and since his departure from Team Ninja, the series has struggled to find that same level of relevancy.
Now, in late 2025, as Team Ninja’s "Year of the Ninja" comes to a close, Dead or Alive is still left hanging in the dark. Instead of a new fighting game, the only recent activity from the brand has been Venus Vacation PRISM, which launched earlier this year. Although it has its own franchise, a romantic dating sim is a far cry from what fighting game fans are craving for.
The official word from Team Ninja leadership hasn’t offered much more than a flicker of hope. In various interviews throughout 2024 and 2025, studio heads have given fairly vague "PR" answers when asked about the series. The standard response has been that they have a deep love for the franchise and want to return to it "when the time comes" or potentially if it ends up fitting into their "overall plan."
A more recent example can be seen during a year-end feature on 4Gamer.net, where Japanese developers discussed their ambitions for 2026. Here, Koei Tecmo’s Yosuke Hayashi teased that development is progressing on a new AAA title. According to Gematsu, Hayashi noted that fans "might just see the return of a certain classic title."
Hayashi worked on Dead or Alive 3 and 4 and served as producer on Dead or Alive 5 and general producer on Dead or Alive 6. He stopped well short of naming names, but his comments were enough to get fans spiraling and speculating once again.
It’s nice, at the very least, to know they haven’t forgotten about the series completely, but those kinds of statements don’t provide much comfort when you’re watching the 20th anniversary of one of their games pass by without so much as a simple acknowledgment.
It is one thing to read these safe statements in a business magazine, but it is another to see them play out. On December 29, 2025—the actual 20th anniversary of DOA4—Team Ninja took to Twitter (X) to share a holiday greeting to their fans. The post mentioned how excited the team is for the future, specifically listing Nioh 3, the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4 DLC, and the Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly remake coming next year.
There was not a single mention of Dead or Alive. Predictably, the comments section was immediately filled with fans asking "DOA when" and other similar replies.
The community, then, is left to live on hope and rumors. There are speculations about a potential Dead or Alive 7 or even a collection that would bundle remasters of the classic games, but reality usually points elsewhere. Team Ninja currently has its hands full with massive IPs like Nioh, which has become their new bread and butter.
⚫︎ Note: Image from Venus Vacation PRISM - DEAD OR ALIVE XTREME -
Since the anniversary of DOA4 passed without any news, the next big window for fans is November 26, 2026. This date marks the 30th anniversary of the franchise. If there was ever a time to announce a comeback or a definitive collection of the series, that would be it.
If we don’t get a major announcement or a remaster by then, it might finally be time to accept that the series won’t be showing up anytime soon outside of the Xtreme spin-offs.
Fingers-Crossed for Next Year
December 29, 2025, has come and gone, and for many fans of the series, the day felt hollow. It is sad to see DOA4 reach its 20th birthday without a single piece of official art or celebratory greeting from the people who made it.
Even without a new announcement, there is still some comfort in the fact that the game hasn’t been completely erased. Because of Xbox backward compatibility, the version of DOA4 we have today is actually the best it has ever looked. You can pop in a disc or download it on modern hardware and see those multi-layered stages in ways that wouldn’t have been possible back in 2005. It benefits from more stable frame rates and much faster loading times.
Whether or not we ever see the series return to this level of prominence is a question that only time will answer. We might get that 30th-anniversary collection in 2026, or we might continue to see the series live on through smaller spin-offs. We can only watch and wait to see if the developers eventually decide to step back into the ring. The sun might be setting on this particular anniversary, but a true fighter never really stays down for long.
Sources:
Dead or Alive 4 Official Xbox Store Page
Metacritic | Dead or Alive 4 Critic and User Scores
Dead or Alive Official Twitter Retweets Team Ninja’s Holiday Greeting on December 29, 2025
Virgin Media | The complete history of gaming: from Pong to GTA 6
GamesIndustry.biz | Tecmo Announces Dead Or Alive 4 As Launch Title For Xbox 360
Team Ninja Ending Support for Dead of Alive 6
VGC | Team Ninja moves to clarify Ninja Gaiden / Dead or Alive ‘reboot’ reports
Noisy Pixel | Head of Team Ninja Says There’s a Chance We Might See Dead or Alive 7 This Decade
Introverts Gaming Guide | Dead or Alive a Casual Retrospective Part 4
GameSpot | Ninja Gaiden II director Itagaki quits Tecmo
IGN | DOA's Lobby System Revealed
Liquipedia | CGS 2007: World Championship
Gematsu | Japanese game creators discuss 2026 ambitions
