While this is certainly just a rumor at this point, EGM’s latest issue reports that Atlus may be gearing up to localize Yakuza 5. This would certainly be very big news for us and all the Yakuza fans out there still waiting to see the game localized. It would also be the first time we see Atlus work on localizing a Sega IP after Sega-Sammy acquired the company last year. Atlus has been quite successful in the past with their game localizations, so we know the company has what it takes to bring the game to the West.
Atlus to the rescue?
In an interview around September last year, Toshihiro Nagoshi mentioned that their team simply didn’t have the manpower available to work on both localizing Yakuza 5 and developing Yakuza Ishin. Since then the takeover of Index Corporation by Sega-Sammy has been completed, and it’s worth noting that Nagoshi also joined the board of directors of the newly acquired company.
But before we go theorizing about what this news would mean for Yakuza 5 and other yet-to-be-localized Sega games, let’s remember that EGM’s rumor section is basically the only source for the news we have right now, so we shouldn’t get our hopes up just yet! That said, if this rumor does turn out to be true, there are certainly some very interesting times ahead!
Thanks to our friends at Segabits for the news.
Update: According to a NeoGAF post from Jason Schreier of Kotaku, Atlus USA is unaware of any plans for them to localize Yakuza 5.
It is worth noting that EGM, under the Q-Mann name, has trafficked in rumors that have later been debunked, among them a port of Virtua Cop to the Wii.
dude please be true Atlus i will support u guys all the way!
The Atlus USA not knowing I always assume that they are not allowed to simply confirm. They could deny it to preserve the announcement.
Really hoping this was the moment. It was just too convenient that Nagoshi would have free time to help with localization after focusing on Ishin and SEGA West’s lineup is still vague.