Yakuza’s producer has reaffirmed he’d like to bring spinoffs Kenzan and Ishin to the West

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Head of Ryu Ga Gaotoku Studio Daisuke Sato has once again stated that he'd like to bring historical spin-off Yakuza titles Yakuza: Kenzan and Yakuza: Ishin to the West.

Speaking to German site JP Games (as spotted by Video Games Chronicle) in a recent interview, Sato said "Personally, I would like for these titles to be localised and enjoyed by our Western fans. We were prioritising regaining our ground with the series in the west from Yakuza 0, so time just flew by without an ideal time to release these games." He continued "In my opinion, the action is among the best in the series, so I’d like to localise them if we get the chance."

However, Sato also acknowledged that it has been some time since those two spin-offs were released, with Kenzan (set in historical Japan in the 1600s) releasing in 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Ishin (set during the mid 1800s) releasing on the PlayStation 4 in 2014. He said " we may need to put in additional work to remake it instead of a simple port, so the decision is a bit more complicated."

The comments follow similar ones Sato made back in 2019 about Yakuza: Kenzan, with the producer saying during the original launch of more recent spin-off Judgment he thought they would be "suitable for a 'Kiwami' makeover" in the style of the first two entries in the main Yakuza series. 

Speaking of Judgment, that's set to release for the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 in April while the latest entry in the main series Yakuza: Like A Dragon launches for the PlayStation 5 on March 2.

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Ben Borthwick

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Yakuza: Like a Dragon

  • Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
  • Genre(s): Action, RPG
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