Summary Prospectus by Investment Company - Form 497K

Investment Objective

The fund seeks to provide long-term growth of capital.

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	0.37
Distribution/service (12b-1) fees	None
Other expenses	0.12
Total annual fund operating expenses	0.49

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 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
	$50	$157	$274	$616

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 16% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Main investments. The fund normally invests at least 65% of total assets in equities, mainly common stocks of US companies. The fund generally focuses on established companies that are similar in size to the companies in the S&P 500® Index (generally 500 of the largest companies in the US) or the Russell 1000® Growth Index (generally those stocks among the 1,000 largest US companies that have relatively higher price-to-earnings ratios and higher forecasted growth values). While the market capitalization ranges of the S&P 500® Index and the Russell 1000®Growth Index change throughout the year, as of February 29, 2024, the market capitalization range of the S&P 500®Index was between $5.73 billion and $3.03 trillion and the market capitalization range of the Russell 1000® Growth Index was between $1.7 billion and $3.03 trillion. Under normal circumstances, the S&P 500® Index is rebalanced quarterly on the third Friday of March, June, September and December. Under normal circumstances, the Russell 1000® Growth Index is reconstituted annually every June. The fund rebalances its portfolio in accordance with the S&P 500® Index and the Russell 1000® Growth Index, respectively, and therefore, any changes to the S&P 500®Index's and/or the Russell 1000® Growth Index's rebalance schedule will result in corresponding changes to the fund's rebalance schedule. Although the fund can invest in

companies of any size, the fund intends to invest primarily in companies whose market capitalizations fall within the normal range of these indexes at the time of investment. The fund may also invest to a limited extent in companies outside the US.

Management process. Portfolio management aims to add value through stock selection. In choosing securities, portfolio management employs a risk-balanced bottom-up selection process to identify companies it believes are well-positioned and that have above average and sustainable growth potential.

Portfolio management utilizes a proprietary investment process designed to identify attractive investments by utilizing proprietary research conducted by in-house analysts. The investment process also takes into consideration various valuation metrics to assess the attractiveness of stocks and assists portfolio management in devising allocations among investable securities.

All investment decisions are made within risk parameters set by portfolio management. Portfolio management may favor different types of securities from different industries and companies at different times. Portfolio management may also consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors that it believes to be financially material.

Portfolio management will normally sell a stock when its price fully reflects portfolio management's estimate of its fundamental value, its fundamentals have deteriorated, other investments offer better opportunities or in the course of adjusting the fund's exposure to a given sector.

Securities lending. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions, such as registered broker-dealers, pooled investment vehicles, banks and other financial institutions. In connection with such loans, the fund receives liquid collateral in an amount that is based on the type and value of the securities being lent, with riskier securities generally requiring higher levels of collateral.

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. Economies and financial markets throughout the world have become increasingly interconnected, which has increased the likelihood that events or conditions in one country or region will adversely impact markets or issuers in other countries or regions. This includes reliance on global supply chains that are susceptible to disruptions resulting from, among other things, war and other armed conflicts, extreme weather events, and natural disasters. Such supply chain disruptions can lead to, and have led to, economic and market disruptions that have far-reaching effects on financial markets worldwide. The value of the fund's investments may be negatively affected by adverse changes in overall economic or market conditions, such as the level of economic activity and productivity, unemployment and labor force participation rates, inflation or deflation (and expectations for inflation or deflation), interest rates, demand and supply for particular products or resources including labor, and debt levels and credit ratings, among other factors. Such adverse conditions may contribute to an overall economic contraction across entire economies or markets, which may negatively impact the profitability of issuers operating in those economies or markets. In addition, geopolitical and other globally interconnected occurrences, including war, terrorism, economic uncertainty or financial crises, contagion, trade disputes, government debt crises (including defaults or downgrades) or uncertainty about government debt payments, government shutdowns, public health crises, natural disasters, supply chain disruptions, climate change and related events or conditions, 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. Adverse market conditions or disruptions could cause the fund to lose money, experience significant redemptions, and encounter operational difficulties. Although multiple asset classes

Summary Prospectus May 1, 2024

may be affected by adverse market conditions or a particular market disruption, the duration and effects may not be the same for all types of assets.

Current military and other armed conflicts in various geographic regions, including those in Europe and the Middle East, can lead to, and have led to, economic and market disruptions, which may not be limited to the geographic region in which the conflict is occurring. Such conflicts can also result, and have resulted in some cases, in sanctions being levied by the United States, the European Union and/or other countries against countries or other actors involved in the conflict. In addition, such conflicts and related sanctions can adversely affect regional and global energy, commodities, financial and other markets and thus could affect the value of the fund's investments. The extent and duration of any military conflict, related sanctions and resulting economic and market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could be substantial.

Other market disruption events include pandemic spread of viruses, such as the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19, which have caused significant uncertainty, market volatility, decreased economic and other activity, increased government activity, including economic stimulus measures, and supply chain disruptions. While COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a public health emergency, the fund and its investments may be adversely affected by lingering effects of this virus or future pandemic spread of viruses.

In addition, markets are becoming increasingly susceptible to disruption events resulting from the use of new and emerging technologies to engage in cyber-attacks or to take over the websites and/or social media accounts of companies, governmental entities or public officials, or to otherwise pose as or impersonate such, which then may be used to disseminate false or misleading information that can cause volatility in financial markets or for the stock of a particular company, group of companies, industry or other class of assets.

Adverse market conditions or particular market disruptions, such as those discussed above, 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.

Growth investing risk. As a category, growth stocks may underperform value stocks (and the stock market as a whole) over any period of time and may shift in and out of favor with investors generally, sometimes rapidly, depending on changes in market, economic and other factors that could impact expectations of future earnings. Because the prices of growth stocks are based largely on the expectation of future earnings, growth stock prices can decline rapidly and significantly in reaction to negative news about such factors as earnings, the economy, political developments, or other news.

Security selection risk. The securities in the fund's portfolio may decline in value. Portfolio management could be wrong in its analysis of industries, companies, economic trends, ESG factors, the relative attractiveness of different securities or other matters.

Medium-sized company risk. Medium-sized company stocks tend to be more volatile than large company stocks. Because stock analysts are less likely to follow medium-sized companies, less information about them is available to investors. Industry-wide reversals may have a greater impact on medium-sized companies, since they may lack the financial resources of larger companies. Medium-sized company stocks are typically less liquid than large company stocks.

Focus risk. To the extent that the fund focuses its investments in particular industries, asset classes or sectors of the economy, any market price movements, regulatory or technological changes, or economic conditions affecting companies in those industries, asset classes or sectors may have a significant impact on the fund's performance. The fund may become more focused in particular industries, asset classes or sectors of the economy as a result of changes in the valuation of the fund's investments or fluctuations in the fund's assets, and the fund is not required to reduce such exposures under these circumstances.

Foreign investment risk. The fund faces the risks inherent in foreign investing. Adverse political, economic or social developments, as well as US and foreign government actions such as the imposition of tariffs, economic and trade sanctions or embargoes, could undermine the value of the fund's foreign investments, prevent the fund from realizing the full value of its foreign investments or prevent the fund from selling foreign securities it holds.

Financial reporting standards for companies based in foreign markets differ from those in the US. Additionally, foreign securities markets generally are smaller and less liquid than US markets. To the extent that the fund invests in non-US dollar denominated foreign securities, changes in currency exchange rates may affect the US dollar value of foreign securities or the income or gain received on these securities. In addition, because non-US markets may be open on days when the fund does not price its shares, the value of the foreign securities in the fund's portfolio may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the fund's shares.

Securities lending risk. Securities lending involves the risk that the fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. A delay in the recovery of loaned securities could interfere with the fund's ability to vote proxies or settle transactions. Delayed settlement may limit the ability of the fund to reinvest the proceeds of a sale of securities or prevent the fund from selling securities at times and prices it considers desirable. The fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value

Summary Prospectus May 1, 2024

of the collateral provided for the loaned securities, or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral or even a loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower of the securities fail financially while holding the securities.

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.

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.

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURNS (%) (CLASS A)

	Returns	Period ending
Best Quarter	28.46%	June 30, 2020
Worst Quarter	-21.23%	June 30, 2022
Year-to-Date	11.68%	March 31, 2024

Average Annual Total Returns
(For periods ended 12/31/2023 expressed as a %)

	Class Inception	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A before tax	7/16/1985	38.57	17.58	13.58
Russell 1000® Growth Index (reflects no deduc- tion for fees, expenses or taxes)		42.68	19.50	14.86

Management

Investment Advisor

DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc.

Summary Prospectus May 1, 2024

Portfolio Manager(s)

Sebastian P. Werner, PhD, Head of Investment Strategy Equity. Portfolio Manager of the fund. Began managing the fund in 2016.

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 Capital Growth VIP