The release of "Dead or Alive 2" had greatly increased the series popularity, as well as Itagaki's. He had sought to create fighting games with details he felt were lacking in other games. In the later iterations, Itagaki has built the story of the games around themes of family - Kasumi and Ayane in "Dead or Alive 3", and Helena in "Dead or Alive 4". To date, the series has gone through four iterations with various enhanced editions. A fifth iteration, "Dead or Alive 5", was made in his absence and released in September 2012. "Dead or Alive 5" received two additional releases of the base title; "Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate", which released in September 2013, a year after the original release. The second and final iteration of the game was titled "Dead or Alive 5 Last Round" and released in February 2015. Given the success of "Dead or Alive 5", Team Ninja created a sequel, also without Itagaki's inclusion, and "Dead or Alive 6" released in March 2019 and is currently the latest release in the franchise.