Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate going free-to-play in Japan

Tecmo Koei has announced it will be releasing Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate as a free-to-play game for the PS3 in Japan alongside the paid version of the title.

According to an interview with Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi on Famitsu (via NeoGAF), the single-player mode, non-DLC outfits and stages will be free. Players will need to pay 1,500 yen ($15) for the game's full story mode.

There will be four characters playable in this version: Kasumi, Ayane, Hayate and Hayabusa. The rest of the game's characters can be purchased at 400 yen ($4) each. The publisher will allow players to check out unlocked characters for a few days as a free trial.

The game's online mode will be free. Players on the F2P version can fight against those who have the retail version. They can also transfer Dead Or Alive 5 save files and DLC costumes bought from the first version of the game.

There will not be a limitation as to how many games a free-to-play user can play per day. For more information on Dead or Alive 5, check out GameSpot's review of the game.