During a Yakuza-themed livestream this morning, Yakuza producer Toshihiro Nagoshi mentioned that the recently announced remasters of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 are being done primarily for Yakuza fans outside of Japan.

Nagoshi talked on the stream about the new remasters, saying that the three games are being redone without any missing content. This is likely referring to Yakuza 3's infamous localization, which cut trivia minigames and hostess clubs from the U.S. release. Nagoshi did mention, however, that some hostesses wouldn't make it into the remaster, since they are based on real actresses and some contracts could not get renewed.

While Nagoshi's statement is not a guarantee that the remastered games will be coming to America, it is a very strong hint toward those titles coming westward before too long. After the success of Yakuza 0, and the seeming drive to fully remake Yakuza 2 for the PlayStation 4 because of that success, it looks like the once extremely niche series that had been sitting on a tenuous edge is now firmly entrenched here.

We asked Sega for comment and were told that they have nothing to announce right now.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 releases for the PlayStation 4 on August 28.

Our Take

I will never stop bothering Sega about Yakuza Isshin. This only emboldens me!