DEAD OR ALIVE 6 Last Round launched on June 24 and immediately ran into a wall of player backlash. Within days of release, only 23% of Steam reviews for the PC version were positive, landing the re-release squarely in "Mostly Negative" territory.
What players are actually paying for
Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja positioned Dead or Alive 6 Last Round as a current-gen upgrade to the original 2019 release, priced at $40. The package includes five previously released add-on characters and five new costumes, plus the promise of new DLC coming post-launch. A free-to-play "Core Fighters" version is also available, though it locks story mode and limits the playable roster to just Kasumi, Marie Rose, Honoka, and NiCO.
Here's the thing: the original 2019 version of the game has been delisted from Steam to make way for Last Round. Players who spent years building out their collections now have to navigate a transfer system that carries over most, but not all, of their previously purchased content.
The DLC math that is making players furious
Seven years of DLC releases have produced a catalog of 440 items for the franchise, bundles included. Even players who owned everything before the June 24 cutoff are blocked from transferring two specific fighters: Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond, the King of Fighters crossover characters licensed from SNK Corporation. Team Ninja confirmed on its website that Mai, Kula, and their associated costumes cannot be carried over from the 2019 release.
To make things worse, both characters have been repriced. Mai and Kula used to cost $8 each. They now cost $11 each, meaning players who already bought them once are being asked to pay more to get them back.
The SNK licensing angle likely explains why these two are exceptions to the transfer plan, since crossover agreements rarely extend to perpetual re-release rights. That context does not make the situation feel any less frustrating for players who paid full price for them years ago.
"Improved for current-gen" with a 2015 Steam controller graphic still in the pause menu
The backlash goes beyond the DLC situation. Players who expected noticeable visual or technical improvements are reporting that the game looks and plays almost identically to the version it replaced. Steam reviews are filled with players noting that bugs reported six years ago remain unfixed, that the pause menu still displays artwork for the 2015 Steam controller, and that features like rollback netcode and crossplay are nowhere to be found.
One Steam reviewer summed it up bluntly: "It's the same exact game with the same bugs that were reported six years ago with a few changes. Mods are now broken."
The primary new feature is a photo mode. Check out the Dead or Alive 6 Last Round photo mode guide for a breakdown of what it actually offers, including the new Oboro lighting system. But for a player base that was hoping for balance patches, improved netcode, or meaningful visual upgrades, a photo mode is not landing as a sufficient reason to pay $40 for what many are calling a copy-paste release.
"There are no balance changes, no major visual change; all they did was add a new photo mode and lighting changes," one reviewer wrote. "This feels kinda scammy."
Koei Tecmo's silence and what comes next
Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja have not issued any public statement addressing the review bombing or the community's concerns. The only post-launch communication from the studio has been confirmation that a new DLC character named Minato is in development. Pricing for Minato has not been announced.
For players trying to figure out whether Last Round is worth the entry price given the current state of the game, the Dead or Alive 6 Last Round release date, gameplay, and new features guide breaks down exactly what is and is not included at launch across all platforms. With the original 2019 version gone from Steam and no patch notes or roadmap published yet, the next few weeks will determine whether Koei Tecmo responds to the community or lets Last Round settle into its current reception.
