Let’s start this article with a big old Tim Taylor grunt because we got Yakuza Kenzan back in the news. If you never heard of this Yakuza series spin-off, its a samurai themed Yakuza game that features characters from historical Japan’s Edo period and follows legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi (played by Kiryu of course).
In an event in Taipei, Yakuza producer Daisuke Sato was there to celebrate the release of Yakuza 5 PS4 port over in China, which now means the whole Yakuza main series has been released in the region (when are we getting those Yakuza PS4 ports?). At this event people got to ask questions about the future of the franchise.
The following questions were brought up about a possible future Kiwami style remakes. Via Siliconera:
Will you continue to release new Kiwami remakes?
Daisuke Sato, producer: “Personally, Yakuza: Kenzan is quite suitable to get a ‘Kiwami’ makeover. Kenzan was the first Yakuza game on the PlayStation 3, and only released in Japan. A lot of Western players mentioned that they want to play this game in English, and Asian players also want the game to release in Chinese. And because Kenzan was an early PS3 game, if it were to receive a simple HD remaster it would feel like it’s missing something, so in my opinion a ‘Kiwami’ version would be better.”
You’ve mentioned that re-negotiating contracts is quite troublesome. Would you consider making games like Kenzan that don’t really require contracts?
Sato: “Because Yakuza: Kenzan! is an early game, the overall appearances of the characters are quite old, and so if we were to create a ‘Kiwami’ version, we could possibly find new actors to contract and swap the models out.”
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It looks quite good already.
While I do like the idea of having more Yakuza games, I’m kinda worried about the direction the series might be following.
I don’t want the series to become stale and monotonous.
OMG this is a big dream of mines, i’ve been wanted to play Yakuza Kenzan for years, it’s number 3 on my sega wishlist, 2008 is the greatest year of gaming for me when it comes to Sega release, Sonic Unleashed and Valkyria Chronicles are the only two games i give god tier, and each we’re made by a different Sega Studio, so if Yakuza Kenzan could be as enjoyable as Sonic Unleashed and Valkyria Chronicles we’re to me, i’ would cry, that would mean all 3 of Sega in-studio we’re at there A game in 2008, that would be so perfect to me.