SEGA looking for the right time to bring Yakuza Ishin West

The last few years have been a great time to be a Yakuza fan with the series’ rise to success over here in the west. It seems SEGA America is taking the series more seriously by investing in these titles, for example Yakuza Like a Dragon will feature a full English dub. In a recent interview with ‘Rocket Beans Gaming’, SEGA’s Senior Localization Producer Scott Strichart explained that SEGA America and Japan want to bring Yakuza spin-offs to the West but needs to find the right time:

“We’re interested in doing what Japan’s gonna do at this point. We absolutely recognize there are some holes in the backlog that we want to do and Japan wants us to do. It’s literally just a matter of finding space for them on the slate. Like you said there’s over saturation issues, do we stop doing new things to put out old things? Do we put out the old thing in the middle of working on the new thing? Then say please buy both? There’s definitely an issue there with over saturating the market. That’s where we’ve kinda landed on that unfortunately. As much as we all wanna do it we need to find the time and space.”

So this doesn’t confirm that its happening, but it at least confirms that SEGA Japan and America are interested but don’t want to over saturate the market. It makes sense, there has been quite a bit of Yakuza releases these last few years with them even releasing all the once exclusive PlayStation 3 games on PlayStation 4.

[Source: Tojodojo]

SEGA News Bits: SEGA Survey Asks About Yakuza Kenzan & Ishin Localizations?

With the recent release of Yakuza Kiwami 2, came a brand new survey asking fans what they wanted to see for the future of the franchise. We go over the important questions of the survey on this episode of the SEGA News Bits. What are your thoughts on the possibility of Yakuza Kenzan and Yakuza Ishin making it over to the West? Any other spinoffs that deserve attention?

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SEGA survey asks fans if they want remasters of Yakuza Ishin and Yakuza Kenzan

If you guys missed the official SEGA Survey for Yakuza: Kiwami 2, you should probably give it a spin because it suggests that the company is considering Yakuza remasters of its Samurai spin-off games Yakuza Ishin and Yakuza Kenzan.

As you know SEGA already announced that they are porting or ‘remastering’ Yakuza 3 through 5 on the PlayStation 4. We already know that Yakuza 3 just released and it topped the sales charts in Japan. The latest spin-off on here, Yakuza: Ishin! came out in 2014 while Yakuza Kenzan came out way back in 2008.

Here are the questions from the survey:

Western release of Yakuza 0 rewards players with Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin save file

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Those who have purchased Yakuza 0 may find a prize waiting for them upon boot up. Like previous games in the series, Yakuza 0 gives players items if it can find Yakuza series system data on the Playstation 4. As I’ve imported Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin, it seems that did the trick in giving me gear to be used by Kiryu or Majima. As it is still early in the game I’ve yet to see what Majima’s Mad Dog Gloves do, but Kiryu’s Dragon God Amulet is described as “filling up your energy reserves when you’re close to death”, which should be handy for players!

Phantasy Star Online 2 June update features the return of the SEGA Collaboration with new SEGA items and more!


In early June, there will be an update to Phantasy Star Online 2 that will feature the return of SEGA Collaboration.

This time around, SEGA Collaboration 2 will have more SEGA related special costumes and items available in PSO2 based on several SEGA key franchises featuring Sonic the Hedgehog, Valkyria Chronicles, Yakuza Ishin and 5, and last but not least for the space cats out there, Space Channel 5!

Be sure to keep an eye out for the next PSO2 live stream with Sonic Retro and SEGAbits on our Twitch channel in June as we show off the update features and perhaps Sonic’s 23rd Anniversary as well.

Special Thanks to Shadix for the tip!

SEGA in the Charts: MediaCreate charts for Feb 17 – Feb 23 2014

Yishin8Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin was SEGA’s big title released this week

SEGA’s samurai epic featuring characters from their Yakuza series in place of historical figures in Japan, Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin, launched last week and is set to be one of their key titles over the final quarter. Releasing on both the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4, the game enjoyed being one of the launch titles for Sony’s latest console in Japan but did it do enough to take the number one spot and how does Puyo Puyo Tetris continue to fare in the chart? Hit the break to find out!

Yakuza Ishin is the Number One PS4 game in Japan

If you haven’t been keeping up with Japanese PS4 news, PlayStation Japan has been doing a PS4 countdown showing various games. They saved the best for last. Yakuza Ishin is “1 day left” of the PS4 countdown and has the longest trailer by far out of all the games on the countdown. You can see some new footage, it’s all cinematic footage, but it looks great. Also has some awesome music by a Japanese band called “ONE OK ROCK”.

Swingin’ Report Show #55: Localize It! with Segalization

This week’s episode is a special one, as Barry and George reunite to talk with Draikin and InTheSky of the SEGAbits partner site Segalization – a fan campaign dedicated to promoting the localization of SEGA games. While Western SEGA fans have enjoyed a number of great releases over the past few years, there are several titles that fans have never been able to experience due to SEGA not localizing hits from Japan for Western audiences.

Draikin and InTheSky talk about the inception of the Segalization campaign, and share their thoughts on how SEGA could go about localizing titles including Valkyria Chronicles 3, Yakuza 5, Yakuza Ishin, and Puyo Puyo Tetris. We also reveal another new partner site, Panzer Dragoon fan site The Will of the Ancients, and deliver the usual off topic banter. Enjoy the show!

Want to support Segalization? Visit their website, follow them on Facebook and Twitter and sign their petition to bring Japanese SEGA titles to the West!

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Yakuza Ishin Japanese tv spots released

SEGA has released two 16 second ad spots for their upcoming PS3/PS4 game, Yakuza Ishin. These J-pop infused spots showcase Ishin’s slick PS4 graphics, game play and storyline, pumping Japanese gamers up for its impending release on  February 22nd. There is currently no word on whether or not Ishin will be localized for the West.

New Yakuza Ishin video compares the PS3 and PS4 versions


An exciting new video has hit promoting both the PS3 and PS4 versions of Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!, due for a release in Japan on February 22, 2014. The comparison video, shared in our forums by maakun2896, not only shows off gameplay footage, but they even detail the differences in controllers and package design. No word on a release to the West just yet, but the game is looking so good that many fans have already decided to import rather than wait. Are you planning on importing the game, or are you a lucky soul living in Japan? Sound off in the comments below, or discuss the game further in our dedicated forum topic!

Yakuza creator talks Ishin, Vita cross-play, smart phone development, testing the waters on Wii U, & localization

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At the Tokyo Game Show, Edge had a chance to interview Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi. They talked about everything from the upcoming Yakuza Ishin’s size to smart phone development! Please go over to Edge to check out the full interview, though we’ll be telling you about the more news worthy quotes here.

When asked about the size of Ishin, Nagoshi compared it favorably to Kenzan, saying:

“It will be a bit smaller than our recent games, but a lot bigger than the Kyoto in Kenzan. Also, the map itself might not seem large but there will be a lot of rooms inside the buildings that you can enter, so the total will still be many times bigger.”

Yakuza Ishin’s TGS gameplay trailer has lots of slicing and dicing


SEGA has released two trailers for the upcoming Playstation exclusive, Yakuza Ishin. The first one and the one we embeded above is the gameplay trailer showing off the combat system, forging system and a few other tidbits.

Now the other trailer is the story trailer, this one uses the intro from the cinematic trailer shown off at the Sony conference, which was also awesome.  The game comes out in Japan on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 on February 22nd, 2014.

Yakuza: Ishin to be a Playstation 4 launch title, also coming to Playstation 3


Above is the first trailer for Yakuza: Ishin, shown off at SCEJA Press Conference 2013! If you want to see the trailer without the English voice over, click here.

The game was announced as a Playstation 4 launch title, but will also be coming out on the Playstation 3 for those not picking up a Playstation 4 at launch. The game will also feature crossplay with the Vita!

Yakuza Ishin will be out in Japan on February 22nd, 2014. As for a western release? According to NeoGAF user Verendus, who is known as a legit insider in the strict community, this one is definitely coming West. What do you guys think?