It took them long enough, but SEGA has finally confirmed that Yakuza 0 will be getting a release outside of Japan. While the game originally launched in March 2015 in Japan, the game will come to the USA and Europe in January 2017.
The announcement was made on the PlayStation Blog, where localization producer Scott Strichart said the following:
“If you’ve only heard some friends shout ‘Play Yakuza!’ from the rooftops of the internet, Yakuza 0 is the perfect game to get into the series. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to all the previous games, where our grizzled yakuza-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, is a bright-eyed 20-year-old, fresh into the game. Meanwhile, Goro Majima, the guy with the snake-skin jacket and the hot streak of insanity, is a suave and calculated owner of a cabaret. He actually wants to get back into the yakuza.”
They also reveal that they’ll be putting all chapter titles, character introductions, opponent names, and on-screen directions in English, which is the first time they’ve done this since Yakuza 2 on PlayStation 2. Outside of that, fans who have played previous games in the series will know what to expect from the game. The story will be very intense, but there will also be plenty of distractions to lighten the mood.
Yakuza 0 will launch on January 24th, 2017 in both a physical and digital edition.
