Sega’s Yakuza series is an interesting position currently: come early 2018, there will have been a total of three Yakuza titles that have been released in regions outside of Japan within the span of about a year, while Japan will likely not have seen or heard of a new one in over a year. It seems that streak will be soon be broken, however, as general director Toshihiro Nagoshi revealed in a recent Sega Nama live stream that he’ll have information to share about a brand new Yakuza game in two months.
Nagoshi didn’t reveal much else on the new Yakuza game that he’s working on, but he says that he’ll be able to say “something” within two months. He also added that he believes it’ll be about stuff that’ll make people happy to hear.
The Yakuza series has been around for more than decade, garnering both critical and commercial success in Japan since its first entry in 2005. However, while the series quickly became a success in its native country, it failed to get a similar reception in other regions. In fact, the series seemed all but dead outside of Japan until 2015 when Yakuza 5 was released worldwide and received positive reviews all around. Since then, fans outside of Japan have been inundated with Yakuza titles: Yakuza 0 came out earlier this year, Kiwami (a remake of the original) is due out in August and Yakuza 6 is slated for an early 2018 release. Meanwhile, fans in Japan have been twiddling their thumbs waiting for the series continue since 2016.
All in all, the teased announcement is good thing for all fans. Those in Japan finally have a new game to look forward to, while those in other regions will know what’s in store for them once they get through the three previously mentioned titles. Most significantly, however, is the thought that Sega might be more inclined to bring over future entries to other regions sooner due to their increased popularity.
In the meantime, Nagoshi suggested he’ll have all kinds of information to reveal when the time comes, so that will definitely be something to look forward to.
