Yakuza 0 Launches January 24, 2017, Exclusively on PS4

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Yakuza 0 Launches January 24, 2017, Exclusively on PS4

Give your shoes a pump, set your pager to vibrate, and get ready to crank your Walkman, because Yakuza 0 has a release date — you’ll be able to introduce street thugs’ faces to the exquisite pavement of Kamurocho on January 24, 2017, exclusively on PS4 in North America and Europe. (That lead sentence was full of eighties references, since Yakuza 0 takes place in 1988.)

If you’ve only heard some friends shout “Play Yakuza!” from the rooftops of the internet, Yakuza 0 is the perfect game to get into the series. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to all the previous games, where our grizzled yakuza-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, is a bright-eyed 20-year-old, fresh into the game. Meanwhile, Goro Majima, the guy with the snake-skin jacket and the hot streak of insanity, is a suave and calculated owner of a cabaret. He actually wants to get back into the yakuza.

But let’s back it up a step or six. I’m Scott Strichart, the localization producer on the game, and I wanted to tell you about some of the ways we’re taking this game’s localization to the next level.

I’ll start with saying that, for the first time since Yakuza 2 back on PS2, we’re actually putting all the chapter titles, character introductions, opponent names, and on-screen directions in English, instead of just subtitling the kanji. This might seem like a pretty small change, but I think when you get to play the game, you’ll really feel the difference!

Secondly, and this is sometimes controversial, but hear me out — we’re maintaining general-use honorifics in the English script. We’re leaving the original Japanese voices intact for the authenticity that only a Japanese voice actor could bring to a yakuza experience, so we took the opportunity to bring the subtitles you’re reading closer to what you’re actually hearing the characters say. Beyond just marrying the subtitles to the spoken word, the honorifics actually play a pretty important role in understanding the respect (or lack thereof) characters have for each other. I think you’ll really see how much more this adds to the story when you get to play it!

Lastly, with this game rewinding to the origins of the series, this was also a chance for us to hit the reset button on the way we refer to the yakuza ranks. Yakuza 0 is going to show you how a power struggle inside a criminal organization looks, and I’ll tell right now, it ain’t pretty.

Of course, whenever you need a break from all this heavy stuff, Yakuza 0 — like the rest of the games before it — delivers plenty of diversions. You can race pocket cars, manage your side businesses, hit the dance floor or the pool hall, go get a drink, chat up girls on the telephone, and much, much more.

Once again, Yakuza 0 is coming January 24 in physical and digital edition. For more information, check out our fresh-outta-the-takoyaki-pan website we just launched, and pre-order today from participating retailers to show this incredible series a little love!

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134 Comments

  • Thank you! I’m so glad this series came about since Shenmue gave me a love for this type of game, especially set in japan with a love for Sega. I have been and always will be a Sega girl, with blue blood in my veins.

  • This is wonderful news! I’m really glad that the given 2017 release window for this game ended up being January, haha. I’m very excited to finally get to play this game, and the fact that you guys are going all out with the localization effort (and giving us a physical release) just makes it all the better!

    Now for the questions that you most certainly can’t answer. But we have to show you guys that the interest for the Yakuza series in the West is most certainly there! So, how likely are things looking for a Kiwami and Yakuza 6 localization? Kiwami is essentially just a sequel to 0, and is obviously another wonderful starting point. As such, I’d like to believe that if 0 sells well, Kiwami is a safe bet. And as for 6… c’mon now. Just look at it. How could you bear to keep such beauty away from us?

    And again, thanks for bringing Yakuza 0 over!

    • “Early” 2017! We kept our word :D

      And for your points about Kiwami and 6, you’re right. I can’t answer those. I CAN however listen to them and report up on it though. Which I will. And have already. :D

  • Glad to see one of my favorite series return, hopefully Kiwami, Kenzan and Ishin will come out next, with Yakuza 6 eventually getting released here too!

  • Awesome news! When I read above that nothing is being cut, that just made my day.

    The only thing disappointing about Yakuza 0 is the WAIT!

  • This awesome! AND we can get Yakuza Kiwami released as well? Steelbook for Yakuza 0 too along with a soundtrack disc PLEASE!

  • FU@K YEAH, Loved playing thru the Japanese version (minus trying to guess my way thru Majima’s hostess mini game)
    All I have to say is DAY 1 Buy, and when can we expect Kiwami and 6, Along with Yakuza 1 and 2 released via PS2 Classic’s

    Also PSO2, WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO FOR A LOCALIZED RELEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Great now bring over some phantasy star games

    • agreed.

      pso2 can stay in japan, because any western release will just be a hack job (potentially resulting in ip blocks being placed on the jp server for western ip ranges like what happened when south east asia officially got the game), but it would be great to see ps:nova come over.

      i’ve been playing the jp version of nova (picked it up when i was in japan a few months ago) and am absolutely loving it so far.

  • Thank you so much for bringing this to the West!

    My girlfriend and I are huge fans of the series and got so into it recently we imported 0, but with our limited understanding of Japanese, it wasn’t working out very well (especially since the story is our favorite part of the franchise). We’ll definitely be picking up a copy Day 1 in January!

    Here’s hoping the rest of the world comes around and buys a copy so we’ll see Yakuza 6 in the States sometime before 2020 :P

  • Tears starting to roll down my cheeks. Europe is getting 7th Dragon, Shin Megami Tensei Apocalypse and now we get even Yakuza 0. Can’t believe this is actually happening. It is, right?

    A fresh start for the Yakuza Series in the West. I hope this will attract many new players. This may raise the chance we get Kiwami. And of course I hope we will get Yakuza 6. I treat the Game as something Takeshi Kitano related and I collect everything where this name is mentioned on the package. Heck, I would even by Beat Takeshis Toilet Paper or Takeshi’s Energy Drink even I’m sensitive to taurine and caffeine!

    I’m glad Sega is open to a new direction towards the West. Great news.

  • Sooner than I expected. I hope for new announcements on PSX 2016.

  • Sony, PLEASE rerelease Yakuza 1 on PS2 on PS4… I know it’s more up to Sega but I can only imagine it would sell relatively well if out before 0 is released.

  • If the issue with the Shogunate games is the Japanese history knowledge, wouldn’t it be possible to add sorts of translation notes to a localised version, or is that too much work for a localisation?

    Another question, if you’ll ever localise Kiwami, would you consider trying voice acting again like in the original Yakuza, but with other actors (Hamill was still pretty nice as Majima though)? I know the voice acting got criticised heavily so you ended up keeping only the Japanese voices in later games since it fits the game series more too. But remaking the first instalment is a good opportunity in making new customers for the series, and adding English voice acting makes the game more appealing for English-speakers who are new to the series (obviously let players switch between languages if you ever do though).

  • Will we listening “Bubble” song in opening?

    It’s a great song for a great game ^^

  • I’ll definitely have to pre-order now. Can’t go wrong with Yakuza on PS4. Always happy to see Sega localizing games like these and Project Diva =X

  • Physical release? I’m in 100%. Looking to preorder now.

  • It’s about to be on and popping like popcorn in January.

  • This plus Yakuza 5 for free on PS+

    I can dig it

  • Mr Hardin, how much of a change is there then to get for example Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 2 as PS2 classics on PS3 at this point? Or is all PS3 support after Yakuza 5 release now pretty much zero from Sega?

    As I wrote in a above reply where I the Finnish user from the Euro blog was referenced, I would really love to have Yakuza 0 for PS3. Such a shame it will not be released in NA&Euro like it was in Japan.

    But it would be amazing to get Y1&2 HD version for PS3 (and Wii U) or at least the original Y1 and Y2 as PS2 classics. I don’t mind that much that at least the first game was dubbed since Sega used excellent actors back then like Mark Hamill and Eliza Dushku in the game.

  • I hate the fake excuse of authenticity. Be honest you just can’t afford the dub right?

    • It may be an excuse but it’s better than risking a dub that may potentially suck. Japanese voices have a lot more heart and feelings put into them which makes the story experience that much better. Really, there’s no reason to implement a dub in the games of this series because they’re fine the way they are.

    • @rechirs5

      Im sorry but no unless your typing this from years ago dubs are great now and do a fantastic job in capturing characters. I will admit the first dub wasint that great however mark hamill did an amazing job with majima.

    • That’s fine and all, but the risk of a not-so-great dub is still there. Besides that, look at it from a business perspective, the series is not doing as great as it should when it really should do so much better and should be recognized way more, doing a dub may have Sega lose profit in the end. Me, I prefer the Japanese voices, if dubs were ever going to be implemented again, they should be optional. Let’s just hope 0 will do overwhelmingly better than 5 and the previous entries so that we can see more of this series outside of Japan.

    • [1/2] While you, and a lot of current Yakuza fans might prefer the Japanese voices, there are still a lot of people who prefer playing their games in English (a lot of people even want Russian, Japanese or Spanish voices for games originally in ENGLISH).. When you market a game in English-speaking countries with Japanese voices rather than English, it won’t look as appealing for the customers of the game. It’s very rare for localisations to only do text-translations without English voices as Yakuza has been doing since the second game.

      Maybe you won’t make a huge profit from hiring voice actorss, but you’ll definitely make some difference if people see it’s fully in English. Reading subtitles is not that common in USA, UK and Canada, it’s something the English-as-2nd-language Europeans are more used to instead. It might be sad to hear that the original language of a game is not wanted by some people, but it’s true. It’s easier to feel the vocal depths of the language you’re most used to.

    • [2/2] I don’t mind the Japanese voice acting of Yakuza, some of them are really good like Kiryu and Akiyama’s actors, but adding English voices is a good way to broaden the demographics for people who prefer games being fully in English (which is almost every localised game). English voice actors can be really good too. I hope to see Hamill voicing Majima again sometime in the future. I honestly preferred him over the Japanese actor. Most of the Yakuza I English actors did poorly though, but like the other guy mentioned dubs have improved a lot generally. If you try doing English again it shouldn’t be a disaster. And I’m pretty sure if they did it they would let you switch between languages just like any other modern game with multiple languages.

      It’s been over a decade since the first Yakuza, they should definitely give it another shot.

  • Thank you so much for bringing this game here!! I’m so excited. It comes out 4 days before my birthday!!

    I’m very interested in the changes on the localization, but I think they are positive moves.

  • MY BEST GAME gonna be in ENGLISH !

    I hpoe there a special edition or collector edition because i already have Japanese one
    Please SEGA !

  • Hi Scott,

    I haven’t played a Yakuza game yet and am wondering where to start. Yakuza Kiwami is a remake of 1&2 but doesn’t have English subtitles or voice-dub.Considering it has sold over half a million units in Japan can you tell me if there are any plans to release an English version?

    • If you start at Yakuza 3 for PS3, there are reminisce “movies” for both Yakuza games prior to it, about 20 minutes each (they’re basically compilations of the games’ cutscenes). I believe they added the same in Yakuza 4 (adding a Yakuza 3 movie as well), but left it out in Yakuza 5. So you can pretty much start at 3 with a PS3, since the movies help you understand the story, characters and their connections.

      There’s also the same reminisce Yakuza 1 movie in the Yakuza 2 for PS2. if you can somehow still get an affordable PS2 copy of it (lowest price on Amazon.com currently is $75, and all copies of the game are used, so good luck with that).

      Would love to see a western release of Kiwami too, since the first game is very dated (sloppy and poor combat in comparison to its successors, and obviously poor graphically and audiowise because of the hardware it’s made on) and really needed a remastering. It’s a shame the first remakes didn’t get localised, but hopefully this one will.

      And forgot to say before (since there’s no edit button), thanks for giving Yakuza 0 already in January. I’m glad early 2017 meant the first month and not end of March.

  • First PS Plus gets Y5, I’m so happy, Zero is here too? There actually is a god!!!

  • Great news: I own Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 but haven’t played them because I want to experience the series from the beginning, so I’m waiting on 0, 1 and 2 to get Western releases and translations on PS4. Cheers! Getting there!

  • I am so hyped and so set for this i might even shed a tear.

    I hope we someday get kiwami and 6 as well, and with a REALLY long stretch the ishin spin-off. would be a great insight into old japan for the fans (not to mention more yakuza games are literally never wrong).

    I’ve played through every game released in the west so far, and even imported yakuza 5 and ishin to atleast TRY to play them. But it just wasn’t the same when i couldn’t understand what was said, the story fell apart in my head and it just didn’t work. I am beyond happy that 0 is coming to the west, words can’t justify how much this means to me as a die hard fan of the series

  • So Awesome!

  • Quite happy to see you guys are doing your best to bring the experience to the West. I just discovered that this is not a “remake” of Yakuza 1 but a prequel. Glad for the Japanese voices, too.

    – Any idea if/when the demo will be available on the European store?
    – After Yakuza 1&2 HD were released on WiiU, there are rumours of the series coming also to Steam, is that true?

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