Lost Judgment may be the final game in the Judgment series due to ongoing issues with Sega and actor Takuya Kimura’s talent agency, it’s claimed.
Japanese showbiz news siteNikkan Taishuclaims that sources tell it Kimura’s talent agency Johnny & Associates have been blocking PC versions of games in theJudgmentseries because they don’t want Kimura to appear inPC games.
While it’s not entirely clear why this is, the site suggests that because Johnny & Associates “has strict control over the [likeness] rights of its talent, and the use of their image online is still limited to a few”, the agency may be treating PC games differently because home computer have direct access to the internet.
The report claims thatSegahas been trying to bring Judgment andLost JudgmenttoSteam, but because the agency is blocking this from happening it may draw a line under the series after Lost Judgment.
“The game makers have decided that if they can’t distribute the game on Steam, it would be very difficult from a business standpoint, and the series will end with the second game, Lost Judgment,” the report states.
VGC has reached out to Sega for comment on the situation.
Lost Judgment will be coming toPS4,PS5,XboxandXbox Series X/S, with no PC version confirmed. The original Judgment was released on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S andStadia, and didn’t receive a PC port either (although Stadia technically counts as a home computer version, Stadia is currently not available in Japan).
Every game in the mainYakuzaseries, as well as spin-offYakuza: Like a Dragon, is currently available on Steam. None of these games star Kimura.
Lost Judgment is the sequel to 2018’s Yakuza spin-off Judgment. It wasofficially revealed via a video presentationin May, and will be released worldwide on September 24.
Further reading
“I’m confident we’ve created a game unlike anything you’ve seen before,”recently appointed Sega creative directorand Yakuza creatorToshihiro Nagoshisaid during the presentation.
The “legal suspense action game” will retain the fast-paced action of the original, rather than adopting the turn-based RPG system used in 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
In addition to Kamurocho, it will take players to the port city of Yokohama, and returning protagonist Takayuki Yagami will go undercover at a high school.
