SEGA announced plans to bring Yakuza to mobile a while ago in the form of Yakuza Online. After a pre-registration campaign, it finally released across PC and mobile platforms in Japan as a free to play release. Unlike the Yakuza games that most fans of the franchise will have played on PlayStation consoles, Yakuza Online features Kasuga Ichiban who is the new face of the series.
As with most Japanese mobile games, the question of localisation for the West is always something that remains a mystery until a random announcement. So far, SEGA has localised Dx2 Shin Megami Tensei Liberation that even had a Bayonetta collaboration event. There have been no indications of anything for a localisation of Yakuza Online yet but a new interview gives us a glimmer of hope. Otaquest and Exile Sekai interviewed SEGA’s Toshihiro Nagoshi about all things Yakuza and asked him about a Western release of Yakuza Online. He said he would like to see it released in the West but could not make any promises. This may not seem like much to many people but this is the first indication that SEGA would like to see it released in the West.
Given the recent popularity surge of Yakuza games that began with the PS4 Yakuza 0 (that was my game of the year for 2017), SEGA might actually localise Yakuza Online since they even brought the franchise to PC last year. Have you played Yakuza Online yet using a Japanese iTunes account or sideloading on Android or are you waiting for a possible English release?
[Source: Otaquest]
