YAKUZA
Daisuke Sato tells us why Yakuza is still only getting started
With both Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 releasing in the West in 2018, it’s been a busy – and successful – time for Yakuza. And that’s without taking into account spin-off game Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise capping off the dev team’s efforts.
The series’ Westward momentum shows no signs of stopping in 2019. “We do get many requests to bring the Yakuza 3, 4, 5 remasters to the West, which are already underway in Japan,” producer Daisuke Sato acknowledges. “The Western releases have typically been over a year after the Japanese launch, but we’re hoping to reduce the delay as much as possible,” he explains.
While the remasters still haven’t been officially announced for the UK, Sato doesn’t want Western fans of the series to feel left out. “Gaming technology is constantly evolving, and products seem to age faster as more time passes. That’s partially why I hope to bring more of these titles that are currently in the backlog to the fans as quickly as possible,” he says. It’s not all remasters, though. Sato tells us he’d like Western fans to know that “with the ‘New Yakuza Project’ in the works, the Yakuza series will be entering a new phase with a new protagonist.” As Yakuza 6 closed leading man Kiryu’s story, the new
THE YAKUZA SERIES WILL BE ENTERING A NEW PHASE.
title will be a bit of a shift. Again, it has yet to be announced, but Sato is keen to capitalise on revitalised Western interest in the enjoyable Japanese gangster stories.
CRIME WAVE
After Yakuza 4 came out in the West no further entries in the series were released here for almost five years. How did the series’ overseas revival come about? “Yakuza 0 played a huge part in this,” says Sato. “It created an entry point for new players, and it also happened to be one of the best titles within the series in terms of quality. I believe that both Western media and the audience recognised that.
“If you’d ask me if the series was successful because it’s very Japanese, then I probably wouldn’t agree,” he tells us when we ask. To him, it’s more about the honesty of
the series. “The games are also set in specific points of a Japanese present-day timeline, so you experience all the trends and culture of a moment in time when you play. Perhaps this authenticity was well-received by Western audiences.
“In Japan, people who don’t even play games have at least heard of it,” he says. “In 2005, there were barely any other games that were about the underworld in Japan. I feel that this unique identity attracted people’s attention. […] I’d be delighted if the franchise can grow in the Asian and Western regions as it did in Japan, but the subject matter of the franchise is very Japanese, so it could be difficult to reach people who simply don’t have an interest in that.” What do you want to see next for Yakuza? Let us know opm@futurenet.com.