While Sega has been really pushing the Yakuza franchise by porting its games to basically all current platforms worldwide, Sega recently talked up a couple spinoff games in the series, and how they could still get a western release.
Yakuza series producer Daisuke Sato was asked by German site JPGAMES interviewed (via TojoDojo) on whether or not Yakuza Kenzan and Yakuza Ishin could still get western releases. Here’s his response:
“Personally, I would like to see these titles localized so that Western fans can enjoy them,” Saito said. “In the past, we prioritized to regain a foothold in the west with Yakuza 0. Time flew by without a good time to publish these titles.”
He added, “In my opinion, the action in ‘Ishin’ and ‘Kenzan’ is some of the best on the show. So I would like to localize the titles if there is a chance. However, they are already a good seven years old. So it would take additional work to produce remakes instead of simple ports. That makes the decision a little more complicated.”
Despite the mainline Yakuza games taking place in the 20th century and later, Yakuza: Ishin is set during the Bakumatsu historical period of Japan and Yakuza: Kenzan is set during the Edo period.