u/Cakuho

Itagaki was clearly ahead of his time when it comes to the franchise that he created.
He was willing to go against industry trends rather than trying to please everyone, and he helped DOA carve out its own identity by doing so.
Each of the earlier DOA entries felt unique, like they had a singular vision behind them.
The games were flashy, the pacing was intense, and the stages were and still are memorable to this day.
All of that made DOA stand apart from its competitors.

In a sense, an era of strong game design has ended with his passing.
It feels bittersweet, like Dead or Alive has lost some of its essence.

Now more than ever, Dead or Alive seems to try to satisfy multiple audiences at once.
The series has to meet competitive expectations, market trends, public perception, all while dealing with monetization concerns.

Thus, DOA7 faces several challenges to reestablish the series as a major 3D fighter: recapturing the series's identity, rebuilding trust after DOA6 and competing in a stronger market.

But one the hardest standard to meet is that any new DOA entry will inevitably be compared to the era Itagaki helped define.
The biggest risk isn't that DOA7 will be bad. It's that it could be a good but generic game.

A decade ago, DOA5 made its most notable collab adding characters from Virtua Fighter to its base cast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyZnz6Pms1A&t=55s
It turned out to work surprisingly well as the VF counterpart was translated faithfully into DOA's system.
Funnily enough, both series happen to revive at the same time now with an upcoming new project.

Would you like to see both franchises collab again in the future?
If it were to happen, in what form would you like to see it?
VF characters DLC in DOA7 or DOA characters DLC in VF6?
A crossover game? Which characters would fit in both series seamlessly?

A decade ago, DOA5 made its most notable collab adding characters from Virtua Fighter to its base cast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyZnz6Pms1A&t=55s
It turned out to work surprisingly well as the VF counterpart was translated faithfully into DOA's system.

Do you think the next DOA game could benefit from another collab with VF or should the DOA new project go back to basics first?

If a VF collab was to happen again, in what form would you like to see it?
VF characters DLC in DOA? A crossover game?