Sega considering more Yakuza to go multi-platform

Sega released three Yakuza games on Steam to some success. Yakuza 0, a prequel to the first Yakuza game, Yakuza Kiwami 1 and Yakuza Kiwami 2 (both remakes of the first two games in the series). The games focus on the lives of Yakuza in Japan and were initially exclusive to the Playstation family of game consoles.

However, PC was not its first foray on another platform as Yakuza 1 & 2 HD for Wii U was released in 2013. Yakuza Online was also released for Android and iOS in 2018. It would seem that even with these releases, Sega hasn’t really considered the game to be a multi-platform franchise until now. To quote Sega’s executive vice president of publishing, John Clark,

“It is in the mindset of [Sega] Japan and Europe now, and the US, to think of it as a multi-format offering.”

He makes it clear that not all Yakuza games will be multi-platform but they’re now able to consider them appearing more frequently.

Signs of this new strategy can be seen in the statement made by Yakuza spin-off, Judgement’s producer, Kazuki Hosokawa. In an interview with IGN Japan, when asked about the game coming to PC, he replied, “I think the hurdles have been lowered by putting on Steam. I think that we were able to increase the player base because people who do not have PS4 can also play the games. At present, “Judge Eyes” (Judgement’s name in Japan) has not been decided yet, but it is considered as one of the options. We are in the process of considering the possibilities not only for Steam but also for other formats.”

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