Nintendo Didn’t Want Yakuza Series, According To Sega’s Toshihiro Nagoshi

Didn't it only release in Japan on the Wii U?

I can't blame them for being apprehensive about releasing Yakuza on the Switch considering how badly the Wii U HD releases did. But this is a new era, and they should at least try to test the waters a bit. Maybe with a download-only port of Kiwami or 0 or something.

Very glad Nintendo didn't turn down Bayonetta.

"Maybe the public is not expecting that kind of game on Switch."

Of course it doesn't expect that kind of games. They only expect, Mario, Zelda, Smash Bros, and tons of shovelware.

God I'm sick of those stupid rationales...

Nintendo didn't want a Yakuza game because of their secret links to the real Yakuza!
(I'm just kidding, but that would be quite the conspiracy.)

Yakuza is an awesome series!

I don't think you can really use how something did on Wii U to judge how it'll do on Switch.

Just another case of company directors mixing their petty grudges and prejudices with business strategy. It couldn't be more clear that the real reason Yakuza won't be coming to the Switch is that they're still salty over that turndown years ago and the WiiU's failure.

Would buy.

Yes, please bring the Yakuza series to the switch. I didn’t get to play the series the first time around. Ever since Yakuza 0 came out, I cant stop playing them for ps4. I would definitely buy them for the switch if they released them.

This would be a great game to play at home or on go.

Yakuza games are so good. Anyone that never played them needs to.

Kind of poor reasoning not to bring it to the switch with it’s huge audience when they only released it on a low selling console in one country.

@EXP I think back in the day they probably did in some way. From what I've read many Japanese businesses did.

Now that they basically have all of the remastered - just put them on the eShop.

Never heard of...

The Yaumachi/Iwata era was just littered with ridiculous decisions (all respect to Iwata though- he accomplished great things too, and respect for Yaumachi who had the gall to venture into a business he didn't understand).

A lot of those stupid decisions are still biting them in the rump today.

Who would've thought a bad port on a dead console that was Japan-only would flop? lol Seriously though, I would like to Yakuza on Switch, but it probably will never happen. Also Kazuma for Smash!

Thats a shame.
Id play them if they came to Switch.

“They didn't understand the reason why I created it.”
If they didn’t understand, it sounds like they done a bad job of pitching the game to them. And using a terrible Japan-only Wii U port (or nothing at all in the Xbox case) to judge whether people would want a certain game on certain consoles, is a really bad business practice.

Welll maybe if the wiiu versions had western releases this would of been hugely different. In Japan the series is a Playstation mainstay.

Its nice that Nintendo reacts just the same we do when ports aren't coming.

"Didnt want it anyway!" XD

It’s a shame, as it’s a genre that is lacking from Nintendo hardware. Then again, they tried it on the Wii U in Japan and it bombed. I think I would have bought it if it came to Europe on Wii U. Whilst it’s not my favourite genre by any means, there were times there was nothing to play on Wii U so I’d have given it a shot.

@Aerona Agreed.

Of course Nintendo didn't want it cause they're idiots, but the fans do stupid Sega. This is why you failed cause you don't know how to give chances.

Everybody should play Yakuza.

I get that Sega thinks they can't justify another Yakuza release on a Nintendo system after their games failed on the Wii U, but that was also the Wii U, where pretty much every game except AAA Nintendo IP games failed.

That said, I would rather they port the rest of the Yakuza games on PC, they only started releasing some of them on PC recently.

Nintendo are in tight with the Yakuza confirmed.

Unsurprising.

Yakuza as a series goes against quite a bit Nintendo design philosophy. It's very culture specific, it's not particularly inclusive of younger players or female players, and it really isn't all that core-gameplay centric.

Nintendo did want lots of Sonic and Bayonetta though, so I don't think SEGA are displeased or anything.

Stupid of Nintendo.

About Yakuza not being for Switch, how can this guy decide what we would like to see?

Shenmue 1-2-3 on switch, that would be a hit.

Seeing how people in Japan have trouble getting jobs if they have tattoos (which could imply they are or were Yakuza), I'm not surprised Nintendo didn't want their kid friendly image associated with the franchise.

No different to Disney cutting ties to a guy who made rape and paedophile jokes. It may seem harsh, but not to protect the image of a multi billion pound company.

@MrGawain That's all well and good...If we ignore that 'Devils Third' was a Wii U exclusive with quite a bit of marketing behind it and featured a tattooed gun toting protagonist.

What a load of old guff. The Yakuza games are way more enjoyable than Grand Theft Auto in my opinion. I would love to have Yakuza 0 and Kiwami on the Switch.

Quit your conspiracy and grudge theories guys. The truth is that the new Dragon engine that powered Yakuza 6, Kiwami 2, and definitely future games in the franchise is already struggling to run in base PS4, let alone Switch. The Yakuza dev team aren't known for their technological wizardry (it took a longtime for them to develop said new engine) so don't expect them to magically make that engine run well on Switch somehow.
Sure they can port older games with the old engine like 0 and Kiwami but at this point it won't help Switch reputation for being late into the game.

For sure Switch needs more indie ports of past 10 years, who care of Yakuza or Shenmue? /s

@Tao

Yakuza was released 10 years before Devil's Third when the market had changed and Ninty needed anything to slap on the Wii U.

Also Devil's third was about a Russian with tattoos, whereas Yakuza is directly about Japanese Yakuza. With tattoos.

@Pod NoA, maybe, but Nintendo in Japan has had a lot of adult type games that never see the light of day outside Japan. GCN was the Iwata era....the same Iwata that ran a whole Yakuza Direct for Japan for the HD ports. I don't think it was a "Nintendo image" problem. Especially with Edgelord Microsoft refusing it as well. This sounds like the proposal portrayed a lousy game and that Sega may or may not have been moneyhatting along with that presentation and only moneybags Sony bit. Plus, if you're Nintendo, image aside, you're probably slightly worried about what (infamously connected) Sega might be roping you into with your own (potentially connected) Yakuza ties and if there's any risk of offending people that ought not be offended. Recall the real Yakuza were targeting container ships carrying SNESes to the point the freighters received JSDF naval escorts out of the Sea of Japan not long before (how many video game consoles receive priority military asset status?)....poking that hornets nest wasn't going to do them favors if their reaction was "a game called Yakuza.....no thanks."

@JaxonH Yamauchi managed to create a virtual monopoly in the 80's and reboot a failed industry, and the monopoly lasts to present day in Japan. Granted he also threw away the monopoly everywhere else with the ridiculous decisions mentioned, but it's hard to really apply any fault to him given what he built. Nobody else, but Sony, managed to do any better, ever, and Sony did it by "borrowing" his work. Technically Iwata's era was the weird, sideways one, though most of that was to try to recover from Yamauchi's decisions leaving them in a hole.

I can see how Nintendo might have said no. The premise is a little off putting when you are trying to balance keeping the families happy and then the single adults (and kids that think being an adult is the M rating on a game) from making a fuss and this is your primary money maker you will be a bit hesitant. Delving into the criminal underworld of Japan...and hostess clubs... if all you get are a few screenshots and a barebones synopsis (which is usually what you get when pitching an idea to a company) then I can see Nintendo saying no even though Ryu ga Gotoku is way more than that. The series as much as I love it is still a medium level series at best and I think they did a risk vs reward scenario. It's not like it was so great that Microsoft, who needed (needs still) Japanese centric games, ran up and begged for it. Sony was the "we'll take everything" location (and it was PS2 is saturated with just as much shovelware as good games but everybody ignores that) so that was an easy sell. I don't even really think that the subject matter was the reason for the rejection. The PS2 versions of RgG are kinda rough tbh even for the PS2 and the time that they came out.

That being said I hope we can at least get a spin off series. I don't need devs to break themselves in half to work coding magic (it really seems like we don't have those that work magic with code in the business anymore...just people that need systems to be ultra powered so their poorly optimized code fits in there somewhere), but there are more than a number of side projects/ideas that if fleshed out will sell just fine on switch (or anywhere else for that matter).

@NEStalgia
Aye, you're correct about Nintendo and Iwata wanting Wii U to take off with hardcore players, and prominently showcased the Yakuza games, along with Zombi U and and a controller with clickable analog sticks that were both in the primary position. Which is about as aggressively FPS centric as you can get with a controller design. Which is hilarious when you look at their efforts to bring in core devs and players in certain other regards.

And you're quite possibly on the mark with the assumption that the game just looked poor and inflated, but I completely understand also why Nintendo wouldn't want to touch something called Yakuza at the time for the other reasons you mention.

Nintendo does have some more adult oriented products in Japan, but they certainly don't make anything like Yakuza themselves, and heavy lifting productions like that are something I assume Nintendo would want to keep free of culture specific tropes, for maximum international marketability.

One point that is missed (or at least I have not seen) is that this refers to actions from about 15 years ago.

[The first game was released almost 13 years ago on PS2 in Japan.]

That was three Nintendo consoles and just shortly after Iwata took over as head of the company.

It was a very different world. The way the headline reads, it sounds as if this was a recent development. It was not.

I feel like this franchise, with its substories and side activities like running a business and playing arcade games or bowling and whatnot, would be a good fit for handheld gaming.

I don't think using the Wii U as the reason why not to release on the Switch is a good argument. I mean, I loved that console but it didn't sell well. So you have a console with limited install base and you'll have lower sales. People might want to play Yakuza on the go, and Switch would be ideal for that. Maybe just remaster the ports of 1 & 2 as eShop exclusives, that way it's a much-lower risk. Just to test whether or not further Nintendo versions in this series would make sense.

For all of those wanting yakuza on switch, yes it would be a perfect fit, but the problem is, Yakuza 6 is down to 30fps on PS4, so it would be unlikely to run on switch, so you would end up with an incomplete collection. You'd end up with 0-5 and then either no 6, or a severely gimped port.

I would own a Wii U version if it had been released in the west.

All of the Yakuza games appear to be coming to PC now, even 6 is listed in Sega's recent financial report as a PC game, so the series is no longer PlayStation-exclusive at the moment.

I think from Shin Yakuza (Yakuza 7) onwards, the series will go multi-platform, as it will feature a brand new protagonist to replace Kiryu, and will be a perfect starting spot for new players.

Honestly, people go on and on about Yakuza games but I don't think they're that great. So they can stick to Sony as far as I'm concerned.

i became a bit skeptic but now that bethesda has announced Doom Eternal for Switch i call bs for 3rd party situations as this.

Through Bethesda it kinda seems that other developers just arent really trying only thinking about losses instead of being more optimistic to invest in de Switch with developing games.

I really hope with Doom ET, Bethesda will start the 'new' line of games in 2019 after 2017 and 2018 being the years of ports of (still recent) games.

Yakuza 0 was the best game of 2017. And they're perfect on the Playstations. Nintendo fans never buy hardcore games. They always let the developers down.

The switch userbase is mostly young adults like myself. The Wii U advertisement campaign aimed at children, so there was less young adults on it. I had one, but I live in the west where the yakuza games did not release. Pisspoor logic on the developers side if you ask me. I'm also pre-ordering Valkaryia Chronicles 4 and Doom Eternal in addition to my Nintendo fix (Pokemon & Smash). Anyway, SEGA has every reason to fully support the Switch, especially since Sonic Mania Plus did better on it.

@BigKing I'm a hardcore Nintendo fan, and I bought the following 3rd party games on my Switch: Doom, TES:Skyrim, Senran Kagura Refle, SNK Heroines(Preordered), Octopath Traveler, Valkaryia Chronicles 4 (preordered), and Doom Eternal (Preordered). I will continue buying more as they come, in addition to Nintendo games like Smash Ultimate.

@penamiguel92 all those games did or will sell way better on the Playstation.

@BigKing Most of which came out first on the PS4, so that point is illogical. The PS4 userbase is larger by comparison (by ~50 million), so there's that too. The PS4 has been on the market for a longer time, so there's more people on that platform. Logically, the larger userbase will sell more, but will the attach rate(games sold compared to total PS4 owners) be higher? I doubt it.

@penamiguel92 Yes i am also very excited for Doom Eternal on Switch.

Games like these normally never excite me on PS4 but on Switch i get hyped, contradicting i know but i cant help it.

@penamiguel92 nobody cares about the attach rate besides Nintendo fans. And on the Wii that still wasn't the case. It had a huge install base and hardcore games sold very poorly. It's also way easier to develop for the PS4 and pc/xbox one at the same time. So the Switch get the less demanding games or those running on a very scalable engine like that of Doom.

And just honestly think about the marketing for the consoles, it makes sense that hardcore games perform better on consoles like the Playstation. Almost all players are young guys, while on Nintendo consoles it's far more mixed. They target the whole family. Combine that with a smaller installed base and less powerful hardware and you end up with a console that is not ideal for most triple A games

You never know until you try it. How many people expected Doom, Skyrim Switch Edition, Wolfenstein 2 to be successful on the Switch despite all of them being full priced compared to the way cheaper and more optimized counterparts? I blame this on Nintendo fumbling the Wii U out of the gate more than the consumers just not wanting that series outright.

Yes please, bring Yakuza to Switch!

@BRAINFOX those were all cheap to make.

Sounds like he has a grudge.

Nintendo fans rarely buy third party games, so I'm not surprised to see Sega (or any other third party) remain dubious about bringing their games across.

Yawn... different time, different system. Nintendo and Sega oughta hash that out, but if not, I'm sure I'll live.

Well, I'd certainly love for these games to come for Switch!

@JaxonH

yep.

N hasn't been 'relevant' to the actual industry since the snes. once sony ate their lunch with the ps1 they continually failed to adapt to the new world and here they are; hoping to salvage the companies hardware with a portable system.

pains the 8 year old kid in me to say it but yes; time for N to go 3rd party.

@sword_9mm
They've been sporadically relevant. With the Wii in the mid to late 2,000s and now once again with Switch. Of course they've always been relevant in the portable space.

I dont think it's time for them to go 3rd party. Theyte still king of the portable gaming space, and theres no reason to give that up, especially with Switch offering a unique product consumers want. Going 3rd party would mean no more portable gaming, and what's the sense in that.

@JaxonH

they could still release a portable but honestly; ios/android pretty much sealed that one. yes playing on a phone sucks but N could just release a controller with some sort of 'encryption' for the games and have the games use that, forgoing the touch crap.

we'll see how long they can hold on to being a console maker. i mean; the switch is buying them some time but as game devs move more and more upstream; these little portable devices are going to be left further and further behind. unless Nvidia has some trick up their sleeve (i'm not banking on that).

I had heard something like this a while back and the logic still baffles me a bit. You released a Yakuza game on an under-performing console (and in Japan only no less) and then act surprised that it failed to meet expectations? I have a PS4 so I'm set, but they should at least release Yakuza 0 or Kawami to give the series a bit of a test on the Switch. Unlike the Wii U, the Switch is actually selling well.

However, I can understand feeling a bit hurt that Nintendo turned the series down originally. Now that Nintendo knows it's a success, NOW suddenly they want it. If I were Nagoshi, I might feel the same way. Sounds like he's basically saying "Too bad, now bite me." to Nintendo.

EDIT: Also the idea for Nintendo to go 3rd party is utterly ridiculous. Nintendo is doing well and the shift from hardware to developer didn't do Sega any favors initially either. Sega lost a LOT of their fans after the Dreamcast, the same would likely happen to Nintendo. Nintendo's hardware and software are a major part of the industry, it'd be foolish to go "3rd party".