The recently released shareholders’ report for Sega Sammy Holdings has revealed intriguing results. The financial results show a clear rise in the Yakuza game series sales. Sega suggests that a major contributor to these sales is the localization in them.
Sega got to know the importance of localization by comparing the sales of Japan with the rest of the world. Although the popularity of Yakuza games is not big in the west the sales suggested otherwise. To everyone’s surprise, the Yakuza 6 sales in Japan were equal to sales in the west.
Sega believes that for the most part, the cause of these sales is the strong localization. The video game company gives credit to Atlus for such a great work in that department. This helped them understand the trends of Japan and outside alike to cater to each gamer’s needs.
In the result of this, the Yakuza game series sales rocketed on both sides with same outreach. Sega was able to please the gamers of different cultures and regions through it. In this regard, the shareholder report says:
“The studio understands both Japanese and American games very well, and is able to localize Japanese games in a way that accurately conveys the unique worldviews of Japanese titles to local gamers,”
Moreover, recognized the importance a combined global release of their games. Sega used to launch their titles in Japan way earlier than the rest of the world. But now they hope to make their titles optimized and ready for every gamer around the globe. Sega addressed this issue in their shareholders’ reports by stating:
“The studio is able to maximize the entertainment value of localized games that reflect these unique worldviews, and this has led to very positive reviews from local gamers. During the product development stage, game content is shared with the localization team for translation before the department is finished, facilitating the rapid release of foreign language versions of the game.”
It is likely now that Yakuza game series characters will get translations beforehand. The limited market for the video game franchise is now a thing of the past. The recent sales figures of the Yakuza games are quite impressive.
While the Yakuza game series sales might not be ultimate hits in the west the growth is still excitable. Moreover, Sega suggests that they do not plan to keep on making remakes one after another. Yet they are doing their best with Sega Ages Switch.
