A spin-off of the Yakuza series called Judgment was released in Japan late last year and is scheduled for a Western release this summer. However, a recent scandal involving one of the Japanese voice actors has led to the game being pulled from shelves in Japan.
Sega recently released a statement stating that the voice actor Pierre Taki, who portrays Kyohei Hamura in the game, has recently been arrested for suspicion of cocaine possession. Sega says that they are still putting together all the information, but that for the time being they have halted all physical and digital sales of Judgment in Japan. Obviously, drug possession is a very serious offense in Japan and it is not uncommon for performers who have been convicted of drug possession to have their entire performances replaced in video games.
At the moment, it is not clear what the future of Judgment will be. Sega seems to be implying that their ceasing of sales of the game is temporary, but at the moment, it is unknown when fans will be able to buy the game again. It is also unknown if this scandal will affect the Western localization of the game, which is currently aimed at being released on June 25. Theoretically, the localization shouldn’t be affected since Taki likely wouldn’t be voicing Hamura in non-Japanese versions of the game, but only time will tell.
