Cancel those plans to move to Japan.
Sega's Yakuza games may not achieve the same level of success in the West that they typically enjoy in Japan, but the quirky crime adventures have managed to attract a cult following of Western gamers who early await any news concerning an English translation of the franchise's latest installments.
Sega spared those gamers a great deal of potential heartache at PSX 2016 by announcing that both Yakuza 6 and Yakuza Kiwami will be coming to the West.
Yakuza: Kiwami is a remake of the original Yakuzagame that was released in Japan at the beginning of the year. There, the game received near unanimous acclaim for the way it not only improved the visuals and audio of the original experience but for the way it reimagined certain points of the first game's plot in order to form a more cohesive narrative. It's a tremendous introduction to the franchise and a nice treat for those who've ben following the games since series' beginning. Kiwami is expected to release in the West for PS4 sometime in the summer of 2017.
Yakuza 6, meanwhile is the latest installment in the Yakuza franchise. While the game has yet to be released in Japan (it's currently set to launch on December 8th), it's already shaping up to to be the series' most bountiful entrant. Whether you enjoy demolishing convenience stores, partaking in some classic fighting games, or just falling victim to some especially creepy in-game cam girl distractions, Yakuza 6 should have a lot to offer for those who demand something a little more bizarre from their open-world crime epics.
Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait a little longer to get your hands on Yakuza 6's Western release. That version isn't expected to hit PS4 until early 2018.
