DWS Equity 500 Index VIP

Summary Prospectus | May 1, 2021

 

Class A

Before you invest, you may want to review the fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund’s prospectus, reports to shareholders, Statement of Additional Information and other information about the fund online at dws.com/vipros. You can also get this information at no cost by e-mailing a request to service@dws.com, calling (800) 728-3337 or by contacting your insurance company. The Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated May 1, 2021, as may be revised or supplemented from time to time, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.

Investment Objective

The fund seeks to replicate, as closely as possible, before the deduction of expenses, the performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 Composite Stock Price Index (the “S&P 500® Index”), which emphasizes stocks of large US companies.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. This information does not reflect fees associated with the separate account that invests in the fund or any variable life insurance policy or variable annuity contract for which the fund is an investment option. These fees will increase expenses.

SHAREHOLDER FEES 

(paid directly from your investment) None

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES
(expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment) 

Management fee	0.20
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	None
Other expenses	0.13
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.33
Fee waiver/expense reimbursement	0.07
Total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver/ expense reimbursement	0.26

The Advisor has contractually agreed through April 30, 2022 to waive its fees and/or reimburse fund expenses to the extent necessary to maintain the fund’s total annual operating expenses at a ratio no higher than 0.26% (excluding certain expenses such as extraordinary expenses, taxes, brokerage and interest expenses, and acquired funds fees and expenses) for Class A shares. The agreement may only be terminated with the consent of the fund’s Board.

EXAMPLE

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses (including one year of capped expenses in each period) remain the same. This example does not reflect any fees or sales charges imposed by a variable contract for which the fund is an investment option. If they were included, your costs would be higher.

Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be: 

1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
$27	$99	$178	$411

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER 

The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the expense example, and can affect the fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 4% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund intends to invest at least 80% of assets, determined at the time of purchase, in stocks of companies included in the S&P 500® Index and in derivative instruments, such as futures contracts and options, that provide exposure to the stocks of companies in the index. The fund’s securities

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are weighted to attempt to make the fund’s total investment characteristics similar to those of the index as a whole. The fund may also hold short-term debt securities and money market instruments.

The S&P 500® Index is a well-known stock market index that includes common stocks of 500 companies from several industrial sectors representing a significant portion of the market value of all stocks publicly traded in the US. Stocks in the S&P 500® Index are weighted according to their total market value. The fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by the S&P Dow Jones Indices, Dow Jones, S&P Global (S&P), or any of their respective affiliates. While the market capitalization range of the S&P 500® Index changes throughout the year, as of February 28, 2021, the market capitalization range of the S&P 500® Index was between $4.75 billion and $2.1 trillion. Under normal circumstances, the S&P 500® Index is rebalanced quarterly on the third Friday of March, June, September and December. The fund rebalances its portfolio in accordance with the S&P 500® Index, and, therefore, any changes to the S&P 500® Index’s rebalance schedule will result in corresponding changes to the fund’s rebalance schedule.

Management process. Portfolio management uses quantitative analysis techniques to structure the fund to seek to obtain a high correlation to the index while seeking to keep the fund as fully invested as possible in all market environments. Portfolio management seeks a long-term correlation between fund performance, before expenses, and the index of 98% or better (perfect correlation being 100%). Portfolio management uses an optimization strategy, buying the largest stocks in the index in approximately the same proportion they represent in the index, then investing in a statistically selected sample of the smaller securities found in the index.

Portfolio management’s optimization process is intended to produce a portfolio whose industry weightings, market capitalizations and fundamental characteristics (price-to-book ratios, price-to-earnings ratios, debt-to-asset ratios and dividend yields) closely replicate those of the index. This approach attempts to maximize the fund’s liquidity and returns while minimizing its costs.

The fund may become “non-diversified,” as defined under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, solely as a result of a change in relative market capitalization or index weighting of one or more constituents of the index that the fund is designed to track. Shareholder approval will not be sought when the fund crosses from diversified to non-diversified status under such circumstances.

Derivatives. Portfolio management generally may use futures contracts, which are a type of derivative (a contract whose value is based on, for example, indices, currencies or securities), to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions or for other needs while maintaining exposure to the stock market.

The fund may also use other types of derivatives (i) for hedging purposes; (ii) for risk management; (iii) for non-hedging purposes to seek to enhance potential gains; or (iv) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions.

Securities lending. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions, such as registered broker-dealers, banks and pooled investment vehicles.

Main Risks

There are several risk factors that could hurt the fund’s performance, cause you to lose money or cause the fund’s performance to trail that of other investments. The fund may not achieve its investment objective, and is not intended to be a complete investment program. An investment in the fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency.

Stock market risk. When stock prices fall, you should expect the value of your investment to fall as well. Stock prices can be hurt by poor management on the part of the stock’s issuer, shrinking product demand and other business risks. These may affect single companies as well as groups of companies. The market as a whole may not favor the types of investments the fund makes, which could adversely affect a stock’s price, regardless of how well the company performs, or the fund’s ability to sell a stock at an attractive price. There is a chance that stock prices overall will decline because stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising and falling prices. Events in the US and global financial markets, including actions taken by the US Federal Reserve or foreign central banks to stimulate or stabilize economic growth, may at times result in unusually high market volatility which could negatively affect performance. High market volatility may also result from significant shifts in momentum of one or more specific stocks due to unusual increases or decreases in trading activity. Momentum can change quickly, and securities subject to shifts in momentum may be more volatile than the market as a whole and returns on such securities may drop precipitously. To the extent that the fund invests in a particular geographic region, capitalization or sector, the fund’s performance may be affected by the general performance of that region, capitalization or sector.

Market disruption risk. Geopolitical and other events, including war, terrorism, economic uncertainty, trade disputes, public health crises and related geopolitical events have led, and in the future may lead, to disruptions in the US and world economies and markets, which may increase financial market volatility and have significant adverse direct or indirect effects on the fund and its investments. Market disruptions could cause the fund to lose money, experience significant redemptions, and encounter

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DWS Equity 500 Index VIP

Summary Prospectus May 1, 2021

operational difficulties. Although multiple asset classes may be affected by a market disruption, the duration and effects may not be the same for all types of assets.

Recent market disruption events include the pandemic spread of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, and the significant uncertainty, market volatility, decreased economic and other activity and increased government activity that it has caused. Specifically, COVID-19 has led to significant death and morbidity, and concerns about its further spread have resulted in the closing of schools and non-essential businesses, cancellations, shelter-in-place orders, lower consumer spending in certain sectors, social distancing, bans on large social gatherings and travel, quarantines, government economic stimulus measures, reduced productivity, rapid increases in unemployment, increased demand for and strain on government and medical resources, border closings and global trade and supply chain interruptions, among others. The full effects, duration and costs of the COVID-19 pandemic are impossible to predict, and the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to evolve. The pandemic may affect certain countries, industries, economic sectors, companies and investment products more than others, may exacerbate existing economic, political, or social tensions and may increase the probability of an economic recession or depression. The fund and its investments may be adversely affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a prolonged pandemic may result in the fund and its service providers experiencing operational difficulties in coordinating a remote workforce and implementing their business continuity plans, among others.

The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may magnify the impact of each of the other risks described in this “MAIN RISKS” section and may increase volatility in one or more markets in which the fund invests leading to the potential for greater losses for the fund.

Passive investing risk. Unlike a fund that is actively managed, in which portfolio management buys and sells securities based on research and analysis, the fund invests in securities included in, or representative of, the index, regardless of their investment merits. Because the fund is designed to maintain a high level of exposure to the index at all times, portfolio management generally will not buy or sell a security unless the security is added or removed, respectively, from the index, and will not take any steps to invest defensively or otherwise reduce the risk of loss during market downturns.

Index-related risk. The fund seeks to replicate, as closely as possible, before the deduction of expenses, the performance of the index as published by the index provider. There is no assurance that the index provider will compile the index accurately, or that the index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. Market disruptions could cause delays in the index’s rebalancing schedule. During any such delay, it is possible that the index and, in

turn, the fund will deviate from the index’s stated methodology and therefore experience returns different than those that would have been achieved under a normal rebalancing schedule. Generally, the index provider does not provide any warranty, or accept any liability, with respect to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the index or its related data, and does not guarantee that the index will be in line with its stated methodology. Errors in the index data, the index computations and/or the construction of the index in accordance with its stated methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the index provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the fund and its shareholders. The Advisor and its affiliates do not provide any warranty or guarantee against such errors. Therefore, the gains, losses or costs associated with the index provider’s errors will generally be borne by the fund and its shareholders.

Tracking error risk. The fund may be subject to tracking error, which is the divergence of the fund’s performance from that of the index. The performance of the fund may diverge from that of the index for a number of reasons, including operating expenses, transaction costs, cash flows and operational inefficiencies. The fund’s return also may diverge from the return of the index because the fund bears the costs and risks associated with buying and selling securities (especially when rebalancing the fund’s securities holdings to reflect changes in the index) while such costs and risks are not factored into the return of the index. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the fund’s ability to adjust its exposure in order to track the index. To the extent that portfolio management uses a representative sampling approach (investing in a representative selection of securities included in the index rather than all securities in the index), such approach may cause the fund’s return to not be as well correlated with the return of the index as would be the case if the fund purchased all of the securities in the index in the proportions represented in the index. In addition, the fund may not be able to invest in certain securities included in the index, or invest in them in the exact proportions in which they are represented in the index, due to legal restrictions or limitations imposed by the governments of certain countries, a lack of liquidity in the markets in which such securities trade, potential adverse tax consequences or other regulatory reasons. To the extent the fund calculates its net asset value based on fair value prices and the value of the index is based on market prices (i.e., the value of the index is not based on fair value prices), the fund’s ability to track the index may be adversely affected. Tracking error risk may also be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. For tax efficiency purposes, the fund may sell certain securities, and such sale may cause the fund to realize a loss and deviate from the performance

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DWS Equity 500 Index VIP

Summary Prospectus May 1, 2021

of the index. In light of the factors discussed above, the fund’s return may deviate significantly from the return of the index.

Derivatives risk. Risks associated with derivatives may include the risk that the derivative is not well correlated with the security, index or currency to which it relates; the risk that derivatives may result in losses or missed opportunities; the risk that the fund will be unable to sell the derivative because of an illiquid secondary market; the risk that a counterparty is unwilling or unable to meet its obligation; and the risk that the derivative transaction could expose the fund to the effects of leverage, which could increase the fund's exposure to the market and magnify potential losses.

Securities lending risk. Any decline in the value of a portfolio security that occurs while the security is out on loan is borne by the fund and will adversely affect performance. Also, there may be delays in recovery of securities loaned or even a loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially while holding the security.

Counterparty risk. A financial institution or other counterparty with whom the fund does business, or that underwrites, distributes or guarantees any investments or contracts that the fund owns or is otherwise exposed to, may decline in financial health and become unable to honor its commitments. This could cause losses for the fund or could delay the return or delivery of collateral or other assets to the fund.

Liquidity risk. In certain situations, it may be difficult or impossible to sell an investment and/or the fund may sell certain investments at a price or time that is not advantageous in order to meet redemption requests or other cash needs. Unusual market conditions, such as an unusually high volume of redemptions or other similar conditions could increase liquidity risk for the fund.

Pricing risk. If market conditions make it difficult to value some investments, the fund may value these investments using more subjective methods, such as fair value pricing. In such cases, the value determined for an investment could be different from the value realized upon such investment’s sale. As a result, you could pay more than the market value when buying fund shares or receive less than the market value when selling fund shares.

Non-diversification risk. At any given time the fund may be classified as “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. This means that the fund may invest in securities of relatively few issuers. Thus, the performance of one or a small number of portfolio holdings can affect overall performance.

Operational and technology risk. Cyber-attacks, disruptions or failures that affect the fund’s service providers or counterparties, issuers of securities held by the fund, or other market participants may adversely affect the fund and its shareholders, including by causing losses for the

fund or impairing fund operations. For example, the fund’s or its service providers’ assets or sensitive or confidential information may be misappropriated, data may be corrupted and operations may be disrupted (e.g., cyber-attacks, operational failures or broader disruptions may cause the release of private shareholder information or confidential fund information, interfere with the processing of shareholder transactions, impact the ability to calculate the fund’s net asset value and impede trading). Market events and disruptions also may trigger a volume of transactions that overloads current information technology and communication systems and processes, impacting the ability to conduct the fund’s operations.

While the fund and its service providers may establish business continuity and other plans and processes that seek to address the possibility of and fallout from cyber-attacks, disruptions or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including that they do not apply to third parties, such as fund counterparties, issuers of securities held by the fund or other market participants, as well as the possibility that certain risks have not been identified or that unknown threats may emerge in the future and there is no assurance that such plans and processes will be effective. Among other situations, disruptions (for example, pandemics or health crises) that cause prolonged periods of remote work or significant employee absences at the fund’s service providers could impact the ability to conduct the fund’s operations. In addition, the fund cannot directly control any cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by its service providers, fund counterparties, issuers of securities held by the fund or other market participants.

Past Performance

How a fund's returns vary from year to year can give an idea of its risk; so can comparing fund performance to overall market performance (as measured by an appropriate market index). Past performance may not indicate future results. All performance figures below assume that dividends and distributions were reinvested. For more recent performance figures, go to dws.com (the Web site does not form a part of this prospectus) or call the telephone number included in this prospectus. This information does not reflect fees associated with the separate account that invests in the fund or any variable life insurance policy or variable annuity contract for which the fund is an investment option. These fees will reduce returns.

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DWS Equity 500 Index VIP

Summary Prospectus May 1, 2021

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (CLASS A)

  

	Returns	Period ending
Best Quarter	20.45%	June 30, 2020
Worst Quarter	-19.66%	March 31, 2020
Year-to-Date	6.09%	March 31, 2021

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2020 expressed as a %) 

	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	10/1/1997	18.10	14.91	13.58
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)		18.40	15.22	13.88

Management

Investment Advisor

DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc.

Subadvisor

Northern Trust Investments, Inc.

Portfolio Manager(s)

Brent Reeder. Senior Vice President of Northern Trust Investments, Inc. Portfolio Manager of the fund. Began managing the fund in 2007.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The fund is intended for use in a variable insurance product. You should contact the sponsoring insurance company for information on how to purchase and sell shares of the fund.

Tax Information

The fund normally distributes its net investment income and realized capital gains, if any, to its shareholders, the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. These distributions may not be taxable to the holders of variable annuity contracts and variable life insurance policies. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences for the holders of such contracts or policies, holders should consult the prospectus used in connection with the issuance of their particular contracts or policies.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the fund through selected affiliated and unaffiliated brokers, dealers, participating insurance companies or other financial intermediaries, the fund, the Advisor, and/or the Advisor’s affiliates, may pay the financial intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your insurance company's Web site for more information.

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DWS Equity 500 Index VIP

Summary Prospectus May 1, 2021 1A-E500-SUM