It looks like Yakuza Producer Daisuke Sato is going to ruffle some feathers today, in a new interview with Gameblog.fr he was asked some really great questions. One of those questions was about the possibility of the Yakuza series coming to another console outside of the PlayStation, which he replied:
“To be realistic about what happened, Yakuza 1&2 HD for Wii U was a huge failure. But we are always looking to develop for multiple platforms as much as possible and know that brings in a greater audience to attract more people. However, as far as Switch is concerned, I’m convinced that it isn’t the ideal platform on which to develop Yakuza games. Maybe people don’t expect this kind of game on Switch. Maybe they’re used to different games. It may not be the ideal platform. As for Xbox One, we can consider it, knowing that Xbox One users may be more likely to be interested in a game like Yakuza. This could potentially be an option.”
Personally think Daisuke Sato is wrong on a few levels. While Yakuza 1&2 HD did bomb on the Wii U, it was only released in Japan. Not only that, it does feel like the Nintendo Switch has a much wider audience that are buying more games (and ports) in mass. This also doesn’t take into account how much more popular Yakuza is world wide than it was back in 2015, especially after the release of Yakuza 0.
He also talks about the possibilities of Binary Domain 2, seeing Kazuma Kiryu again and Yakuza 0-2.
Regarding Yakuza 6: The Song of Life being the end of Kazuma Kiryu’s story…
Daisuke Sato: “He is not dead, and that does not mean he will disappear completely, we may see him again one day.”
Regarding a Yakuza 0-2…
Daisuke Sato: “We are still completely in the dark as there is no particular [Yakuza 0-2] project [in development]. But if we were to make it, it would be about young Kiryu and Majima again.”
Regarding a Yakuza-style City Hunter spin-off or other spin-offs…
Daisuke Sato: “This is a question that I get asked quite regularly. Technically, that would be possible. After all, the story of City Hunter takes place in Shinjuku. We have a common point and that would be potentially possible. Now, knowing whether to do it or not is another question because what’s important is that the two universes stick together perfectly. In the case of Fist of the North Star, we certainly had relatively different worlds, with a real world on one side and a post-apocalyptic world drawn from a manga on the other, but it worked very well at the character level. When we look at the characters of Yakzua and the characters of Fist of the North Star, we find a lot of things that intertwine, we can find personalities, ways of acting and behaving that are very very close in both worlds. That’s why it stuck very well that we were able to bring something really interesting as game creators. We really want to focus on those points.”
Regarding a Binary Domain 2…
Daisuke Sato: “As far as I’m concerned, I would love to make a sequel. It is purely a question of practicallity and administration. It’s up to Sega to decide whether or not they want to do it. (Laughs.)”
Regarding whether we’ll see Shun Akiyama again…
Daisuke Sato: “Hmm… why not… (Laughs.)”
[Via: Gematsu]
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Perhaps he’s right, but the demographic data of the Switch installed base skews in favor of the target demographic of such a game, assuming he’s not talking about some cultural factors, but even then, the Switch is more of a japan-savvy console than the Xbox brand, so who knows.
I think he probably just didn’t want to say the Switch is underpowered for a game like Yakuza. Even the PS4 struggles a bit with the Dragon Engine. No way it would work on Switch.
No kidding. The Nintendo audience is mainly interested in cartoony games.
Sega should look for ways to how make their IPs like Bayonetta multiplatform.
Bayonetta isn’t cartoony…
Also what about games like Doom on the Switch?
There are people in Nintendo’s userbase who likes realistic games…
Also Yakuza could get cartoony in some way
he said manly , and also Bayonetta 2 sold poorly on the Wii U.
No offense but you’re losing money
It probably still have bombed but if Yakuza had been on WiiU (outside Japan) I definitely would have bought it, at least. Dang. 🙁
Why bother? Just let that sink ship.
*ship sink, hahaha