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Yakuza Producer Thinks The Series Is Too ‘Underground’ And Violent For Switch
14.9.2022
In a new GameSpot interview, Yakuza executive producer and Ryu Ga Gotoku studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama expressed that he’s hesitant to bring the popular franchise to Nintendo Switch. He explained that the console’s family-friendly image in Japan doesn’t fit with the franchise’s mix of combat...
Please Enjoy This Very Brief Look At Yakuza 8
20.7.2022
Because we get new Yakuza games all the time, and because they’re so often set in the same places starring the same people using the same engine, the series has never needed big, staged reveals before. Take the next game, for example, of which we’re getting our first look...over a developer’s...
Sega's Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Is Making Yakuza 8
19.11.2021
In October 2021, Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi confirmed he was leaving the studio he helped found. Joining him in the departure was long-time series director and producer Daisuke Sato. In a new interview with Weekly Famitsu, the studio’s new boss Masayoshi Yokoyama talks about how these...
Lost Judgment: The Kotaku Review
28.10.2021
I loved Judgment, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s 2018 spinoff from the Yakuza series. Arriving just as the main games were getting ready to go through the biggest changes in their long-running history, along came a lawyer and his himbo best friend to keep some beloved old Yakuza fundamentals alive.Read more
Obscure 2012 Yakuza Game Is Getting A Fan Translation
8.10.2021
While we are now spoiled for choice when it comes to major Yakuza games, from the mainline series to its more recent Judgment spinoffs, there are still a number of older Yakuza games that remain unplayable to fans in the West, since they never received a localisation.Read more
Sega Drops Series Monkey Ball Announcer, Who Claims Discrimination
29.9.2021
Brian Matt, the original announcer for the Super Monkey Ball series, will apparently not be heard in Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, despite the new release being effectively a remake of the first two games. Today, Sega claimed that Matt was never even involved in the development of the latest...
Report: Yakuza Creator Toshihiro Nagoshi Leaving Sega To Join NetEase
30.8.2021
Veteran developer Toshihiro Nagoshi, of Sega Rally, Monkey Ball and Yakuza fame, is in the final stages of negotiating a contract to leave Sega and join Chinese company NetEase, according to a report on Bloomberg.Read more
Yakuza's Kiryu Joins The Growing Super Monkey Ball Cinematic Universe
18.8.2021
Move over, Jet Set Radio’s Beat, you’ve been usurped as the coolest guest character in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania. Sega announced this morning that Kazuma Kiryu, the principled protagonist of the Yakuza series, will also be playable in the upcoming game.Read more
Super Monkey Ball x Jet Set Radio Crossover Is Like A Tasty Peanut Butter Cup
4.8.2021
Jet Set Radio protagonist Beat will appear in the upcoming Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania as a playable character, Sega announced this morning.Read more
Next Yakuza Spin-Off Has A Playable Sega Master System
22.6.2021
The Yakuza games have long featured playable versions of classic Sega games, but they’ve normally come in the form of arcade classics. The upcoming Lost Judgment, though, is taking things back a little further in time.Read more
Lost Judgment Producer Says Worldwide Release Tripled His Team’s ‘Struggles’
8.6.2021
When Lost Judgment, the latest entry in Sega’s Yakuza spin-off series, launches later this year, it will be available on the same day worldwide, a feat no game in the overall franchise has managed up to this point. But achieving a simultaneous global release comes with a cost.Read more
Virtua Fighter 5 Coming To PlayStation 4 Next Week
25.5.2021
After teasing the classic fighting game franchise’s return last fall, this morning Sega announced Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, a PlayStation 4-exclusive update to a game that’s almost 15 years removed from its original release at this point. Oh, and it’s launching June 1, also known as next...
Future Yakuza Games Will Stick With Turn-Based Battles
7.5.2021
Sega confirmed today that the Yakuza series will continue on as a turn-based RPG. This comes after the success of the last entry, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which left behind the fast-paced brawling the series once featured for more tactical, turn-based combat. Read more
Yakuza's Producer Would Like To Bring Its 17th & 19th Century Spinoffs To The West
24.2.2021
While Sega has eventually managed to bring all the main Yakuza games to the West, we’ve still never gotten the series’ two historical spinoffs, Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! and Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!.Read more
Yakuza Spin-Off Judgment Heading To Next-Gen Consoles On April 23
2.2.2021
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Judgment is getting the next-gen treatment on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on April 23, Sega announced today. It will come bundled with all previously released DLC for $39.99.Read more
Japan-Exclusive Yakuza PSP Game Gets Fan Translation
12.1.2021
The popularity of the Yakuza franchise has exploded in the United States over the last few years, but we’ve mostly been getting games in the main series. Japan, on the other hand, has enjoyed a fair few exclusive spin-offs since the first game launched in 2005, one of which just got a...