Yakuza's arrival on PC has been a welcome one, and we've very much embraced Kiryu and his pals as they brawl, date and dance their way through Kamurocho. With three Yakuza games out on Steam, Sega now considers it a multi-platform series, though it's not ready to make any firm announcements about future games.
"To make a quality PC port is the key," says Sega's executive vice president of publishing, John Clark. He explains that Sega has prioritised games like Yakuza that have a pre-existing audience. He adds that Yakuza has been a success on PC and resonated in Japan as well. Going forward, PC is going to continue to be in the mix.
"It's in the mindset of [Sega] Japan and Europe now, and the US, to think of it as a multi-format offering," says Clark "That's not saying everything's going to be multi-format, but we're able now to consider that data."
What's not yet been determined is how future Yakuza installments will be released. All three PC ports have launched well after their PS4 counterparts, but that's not been the case with all of Sega's Japanese ports and multi-platform launches. Valkyria Chronicles 4 and Shining Resonance Refrain both had simultaneous launches, for instance.
"With those two titles, we now have the ability to evaluate a multi-format simultaneous launch against more of a phased process that we see with Yakuza," says Clark. "That'll be evaluated and the best way to launch titles will result from that."
More Atlus games could be coming, too, but the ball is currently in Atlus's court. Catherine Classic saw the developer's surreal puzzle game come to PC for the first time in January, and it's performed well. Clark hopes it's just the first step.
"Everyone's really pleased with it; we're pleased with it, it's performed well and the audience is happy," he says. "I think for us it was always step one. Let's launch Catherine, which then gives the IP owners and business owners at Atlus—who are in their first foray into the PC market—the ability to evaluate the success and how that can fit in for their future road map. I'm pleased to say they now have that information, so they're able to evaluate it. For us it was a positive experience, and hopefully they'll share that and consider it in their own road map."
Judgement, the Yakuza spin-off, might end up on PC, according to its producer, and Yakuza 6 was also meant to be making an appearance on Steam, though is was due in 2018.
