Lost Judgment is the second entry in the Yakuza spin-off series, but it could be ending as soon as it started. A new report has surfaced which claims the upcoming entry may very well be the last.
According to a report from the Japanese site Nikkan Taishu (and transcribed by VGC), the site has allegedly heard about on-going disputes between SEGA and actor Takuya Kimura’s (who plays the game’s protagonist, Takayuki Yagami) talent agency, Johnny & Associates. The clash is claimed to be over the agency blocking PC versions of the game, as they don't want Kimura to be in PC titles.
It's said that the agency "has strict control over the [likeness] rights of its talent, and the use of their image online is still limited to a few". Although, it's not clear why the company wants to block the titles from PC. Due to this dispute, future instalments of the game are said to may never come to light.
The reason behind this, according to the report, is if they can't "distribute the game on Steam, it would be very difficult from a business standpoint, and the series will end with the second game, Lost Judgment.”
Of course, there's no official word on whether this will be happening, and the issues between the companies could be resolved - if true. It would be a shame to see the end of the series so early into its lifespan. It was previously said the Yakuza series would continue the turn-based combat while Judgment would maintain the classic fighting found in older Yakuza titles, meaning there could be ripple effects for future games in the franchise if the dispute ends badly.
Would you be sad to see the series end with Lost Judgment? Let us know in the comments below.
[source videogameschronicle.com, via taishu.jp]
Comments 13
Or how about they just replace the main character like how Yakuza recently did?
The real question is what happened to Judgment coming to GamePass?!?
@awp69
Well, the PS4 version is in PS Now starting this month, so either Sony beat MS to the punch, or we'll get the Series X/S version at a later date to help promote sales for the sequel?
@blinx01 Only thing is that the GamePass Twitter account actually teased Judgment coming. I don’t know if they did it too soon before the ink was dry and Sony came in. But if they were wrong, then it was pretty ***** of them to tease it.
I really don’t get how they can’t just replace the likeness or MC. But I mean they could easily do a plastic surgery storyline. Someone is trying kill Yagami and he has to hide. That said it could just be flavored for the story article. And Sega could just easily replace him. Who knows.
@awp69 @blinx01 I’m pretty sure they wanted to wait a bit later for Lost Judgement sales. We got Control in Gamepass and PS Plus got Control as well.
Sounds like they're just not happy with their current deal? Maybe because they had to do a quick one when the previous actor was arrested lol.
I can't for one believe the series can't hold up without the steam sales when the yakuza series were Sega's lifeline for who knows how long
@CrazyJF People are gross and that's a shame
@CrazyJF That is obviously a problem, but the cat is already out of the bag. The PS4 was hacked long ago, and it would not be hard to dump the files. I imagine that the people negotiating are the type of people that don't have any idea how a computer works. PC's default state is open but the Switch and PS4 are easy to jailbreak. The Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PS5 are to my awareness not yet hacked. That does not mean they are unhackable, being truly unhackable is pretty much impossible, but thus far they have proven too difficult. Hard to judge the Xbox Series and PS5 since they are likely too new and few for people to obtain.
Unfortunately I doubt they’d replace Takuya Kimura even if that were an option considering why they even got him for this game series in the first place, his big time TV drama role as an ass licking prosecutor, and how much more keeping actors in the same role for years is a bigger deal in Japan.
If it's the last game, and it comes about naturally, fine with it. But like this, not okay, but it is what it is. Not gonna die on this hill; not my battle, etc.
@blinx01
Certainly a possibility I'd hope Sega would consider. Yagami is a cool character but not irreplaceable.
I'd honestly love to see RGG Studio focus on something new, and somewhere completely different.
Just recast the guy. They already had to recast a support character on the first game due to the actor getting into legal issues, no? Sure they are used to it.
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