Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, John Clark of Sega Europe told the outlet why he believes the Yakuza franchise has been successful in the West and not just within Japan. Clark says that he believes it’s due to its commitment to the original vision. Stating:
From my experience of Japan as a market, what we see is something that to us is very traditional publishing and development: Single player, story-led, sequel, sequel, sequel, and it’s something that works in Japan. What’s happening here is that the Yakuza franchise is being brought to the West and it’s not being changed for the Western market, in terms of the gameplay.
“We’re not turning every Yakuza title into an open-world Yakuza game. That’s not what’s happening. We’re representing the Japanese IP, the Japanese road map, the Japanese content to the relevant audience within the West. And whether there’s a need to change that or not, I don’t know. But it seems to be successful and it seems to be working.”
