The Yakuza series finally came to PC yesterday when Sega released the prequel Yakuza 0 on Steam. If you’ve already dug into it and are hoping that the publisher is planning to bring more Yakuza adventures to your computer, then get prepared for the launch of Yakuza 6 at some point later this year.
Sega revealed its plans for more Japanese crime action on Steam in an earnings report that went out to investors and analysts. The publisher said it plans to release Yakuza 6 on Steam in North America and Europe before the end of 2018. This should give the Yakuza series a chance to win over entirely new audiences as the series has only come out on PlayStation consoles in the past.
This is all part of Sega’s ongoing strategy of fully embracing the PC as a primary platform. The company wants to bring most of its back-catalog releases to PC, and it has already done a lot of work to make that happen with its Genesis collection, Vanquish, and Bayonetta. That is on top of the company’s PC-focused contemporary works, which include the Total War strategy games from developer Creative Assembly.
As for Yakuza, the series has seen its profile grow rapidly over the last couple of years. Yakuza 0 on PlayStation 4 was something of a nexus point for the franchise as it was able to break out in the West more than it has in the past. This gives Sega another marquee series that it can continue to grow in the future and one that it can slowly bring back with remakes, remasters, and fresh releases on PC.
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Sega is in the process of updating the older Yakuza games from the PlayStation 2 and 3 era as part of its Kiwami initiative. It has already released Yakuza Kiwami, which is a remake of the original game. It is now planning to launch Yakuza Kiwami 2, a similar remastering of the second game. The publisher has not revealed plans to bring those to PC, but if 0 and 6 perform well, those ports seem likely.
