Jul 30 2009
Yakuza 3 Not Coming To North America
Sega has officially announced that Yakuza 3 will not be coming to America, and that has a number of fans, myself included, a little upset. Essentially set to be GTA Japan, although promising a deeper more involved character driven experience, Yakuza 3 looks like it’s going to be a freaking awesome game, that nobody outside of Japan will be able to play. Apparently SEGA has made the decision due to the under performance of Yakuza 2 in America, the game apparently only sold upwards of 40,000 copies, which is well under the amount they were obviously hoping for. In these harsh economic times, I guess SEGA just isn’t in the mood to take a risk by trying to reinvigorate the Yakuza franchise in other countries with a spotty track record.
That bothers me, because instead of an awesome game that’s supposed to far surpass just how good Yakuza 2 was, SEGA will probably release 500 more horrible Sonic The Hedgehog games. Seriously, let the blue hedgehog die, he’s done enough for one little animal’s lifetime. Let us remember Sonic for the days when the game didn’t suck hard like the 3D Sonic games of the modern age. Just let him go, and start bringing in good franchises that with the right marketing, could stand the test of time, like Yakuza. If only more people were aware, perhaps the series could flourish.
Yakuza 2 speaks for itself, the reviews were fantastic, and anybody that played it got one of the best PS2 games released in the console’s late years. Yakuza 3 could be the same thing for PS3, but this time given the proper support, could actually make the sales numbers SEGA wants to achieve.
I say give it a shot, because I desperately want to play Yakuza 3.
