Yakuza Kiwami 2 Western Release Announced

     

     It is official, Sega announced this weekend that Yakuza Kiwami 2 will be released in the west, this year. Slated for a 28th, August, 2018 release, for a game that just released this last December. As the remake for the second game in the series, following in the footsteps of Yakuza Kiwami from 2017. However, the main differences being rather than using the engine from Yakuza 0, it will use the Dragon Engine, that was debuted with the release of Yakuza 6 (well at least for Japan, we still have to wait till April for that). Also, the main difference is that if the release date stays where it is at, it will be under a year from the original Japanese release. This is a big deal for the simple fact, that no longer do we have to wait two years (or longer in the case of the older games), before we get the new games in the series in the west.

     Hopefully this is a sign of things to come with Sega and its IPs that have garnered high popularity with gamers in the west that haven't released outside of Asia in the past. With the return of the Shining Force series to the west, for the first time in a decade, and the increasingly shorter turn around for games in the Yakuza series over the years, as well as the announcement of Valkyria Chronicles, hopefully Sega has seen fit to bring more of their long dormant IPs (at least in the west) in the near future. Now, what does this mean for other games in the Yakuza series that have yet to be confirmed for a western release date, more specifically Yakuza: Ishin? Who really knows, but hopefully we can get a nice surprise from Sega and Sony at E3 this year, and we can finally be a part of the Shinsengumi with English subtitles sometime in the near future. 

     Hopefully with this other devs from Japan will begin to realize that there is an audience for some of their more Japan-only IPs, specifically Bandai Namco. It would be great to be able to buy the multitude of Gundam games, the Super Robot Taisen series, and the multitude of games that have still not left Asia. Though would not think that having any expectations would be a good idea, but one can hope if nothing else. 

​~Koyuuki