1UP Says Yakuza 3 is Coming Westward
Long-time readers of OLC are quite familiar with my disdain for Sega’s statements that the third installment of their Yakuza franchise might not be coming to the West. However, if 1UP is to be believed, that disdain might be misplaced… Earlier this evening, 1UP’s Editorial Director, Sam Kennedy, posted a small story in which he confirmed that, though the game has not been officially announced, Sega is currently in the process of translating and localizing Yakuza 3 (or Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 in Japan) for release in Western territories. This comes after a long string of “maybe”s followed by “no way”s followed by retractions of said “no way”s; needless to say, fans waiting for the elusive Western release of Yakuza 3 have been put through a long and winding road of denials, retractions, and shifted blame.
According to Kennedy, the official announcement of the game’s localization should be made in the coming weeks or months. With Tokyo Game Show but a week away, it’s possible that Sega could follow up their Japanese coverage of the currently in-development Yakuza 4 with an announcement of Yakuza 3 for the West; however, that seems just a tad too convenient to happen. Because of the ambiguity of the report, even despite its source being a rather respectable member of the gaming press, I’m going to file this one down as a rumor; after all, my heart couldn’t take it if it ends up being another fake-out. Stay tuned, and we’ll see how this all develops.
Source: Yakuza 3 Is Coming To The West (1UP)
I’ve seen dozens of videos online and even tried the demo (had no idea what I was doing, but had some fun with the combat). However the problem was that the game didn’t interest me.
Now what audience is Sega even looking for by bringing this here, the Y1-Y2 audience? Because those games sold terribly and I think the cultral barriers will hinder the sales with ads or not.
Oh well whatever the reason, may it be to keep the fans/loud mouths over the internet happy or thinking third times the charm, I wish Sega luck with Yakuza 3 and am hapy for the 5,000+ (???) people who wanted this game.