Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and SEGA might not keep the Yakuza franchise in Japan, especially now, after gaining mainstream traction in the West.

Yakuza started its life nearly two decades ago on the PlayStation 2, and it took until recently to get a spin-off franchise called Judgment (whose sequel, Lost Judgment, is launching in two weeks). Kazuki Hosokawa, the director of Lost Judgment, gave an interview to TheGamer, talking about the series’ future, too.

“For the past six of seven years, I’ve just been working on Yakuza and had always been thinking about wanting to create a new IP. Many ideas weren’t greenlit, but one of the ideas that made it to launch was Judgment. There weren’t many uncertainties about fans not accepting something different; it was more of a mindset of really wanting to create something new because I want to present an experience to players that are different from Yakuza. There’s a lot of limitations because the framework is based on Yakuza, so it’s not an entirely separate universe, but I’m so happy I was able to realize this and create something,” Hosokawa said.

There’s interesting in bringing over the Japan-exclusive games (Yakuza: Kenzan, Yakuza: Ishin) to the West, but the franchise is changing, and one of its signs was how Yakuza 7 (no number in the Western title, but there is one in Japan…): Like A Dragon turned to a turn-based RPG in its combat system, while Judgment (Judge Eyes) and its sequel (which is called Lost Judgment in Japan, too) remained with the classic formula.

The future of Judgment is yet to be decided: Takuya Kimura’s agency (he’s the actor behind the main character) has signalled that there might not be a third game in the series after Lost Judgment, and it could be the reason why the first game’s remaster is available even on Google Stadia but not on PC…

Source: PSL