GamingBolt recently published an interview they conducted with Sega of Japan on Yakuza: Ishin. They asked a variety of questions, inquiring about development of the game, comparison between PS3 and PS4 versions and how Sega worked on both at the same time, and the decision to make a new spinoff title instead of the next mainline entry.
Incidentally, the Sega spokesperson fielding the questions made some interesting remarks: notably about incorporating the PS Vita into the game (and how it affected game balance), and the lack of plans for an Xbox One release. While not necessarily a major talking point, the viability of expanding Yakuza to other platforms besides Sony consoles has occasionally been brought up in fan discussions.
Sadly, the most notable takeaway from this interview is that Sega of Japan has officially stated that they currently have no plans to localize Yakuza:Ishin. What this says about perhaps having Sony intervene isn’t clear at all. But in any case, Sega’s absence of current plans to do so, coupled with the continued absence of Yakuza 5 outside of Japan is quite dire for non-Japanese fans of the series and for the franchise’s health in regions outside of Japan.
