Judgment Series Reportedly in Jeopardy Over PC Release

Judgment, the mystery spin-off of the Yakuza series, might just be done for. A new report says that the upcoming sequel, Lost Judgment, will be the last one in the series. The reason? Sega has apparently gotten into an irreconcilable dispute with the agency of the main character’s actor, as for some reason they don’t want the game released on PC.

When Lost Judgment was announced back in May, the materials seemed to indicate that the game would be launched on PC — Steam, specifically — at the same time it was launched on other platforms. While Sega has since said it has no plans for a PC release, it’s possible that it originally planned for that release. Lost Judgment would hardly be the first PlayStation exclusive to come to PC for an expanded audience. The first game was only playable on PC via Google Stadia.

Takuya Kimura, the actor who lends his likeness and voice to the main character Takayuki Yagami, is represented by Johnny’s, an agency known for having strict rules about the distribution of its stars’ images. A new report, which comes from Nikkan Taishu (I’m relying on Kotaku’s translation) claims that the agency objects to Kimura’s appearance being released on the PC. It’s not exactly clear why, but it’s possible the initial agreement was very specific about the platforms on which the game would be released.

According to the report, reps from Johnny’s and reps from Sega haven’t been able to reach an agreement about this potential PC release. If they can’t, it could mean not only the cancellation of the PC version, but the end of the series as a whole, as Johnny’s could refuse to allow Sega to use Kimura’s likeness in future games. Considering Yagami looks and sounds exactly like Kimura, he’d be difficult to replace.

Source: Kotaku