SEGA has offered up a bit more as to why some sections from Yakuza 3 were cut from the western release.
Apparently, some of it had to do with timing and localization.
After the news was broke by IGN yesterday, a SEGA representative posted the following on the company’s US blog:
Ultimately, the choice that had to be made was either no Yakuza 3 in the west, or a version of the game that was almost exactly the same, but with a little less trivia. That said, our teams also understand that many of you guys love games like Yakuza because of that experience, and rest assured that we’ll continue fighting on your behalf to make sure that going forward, we can provide as close to the full experience as possible – no matter how foreign.
Even so, Yakuza 3 is still a game packed to the brim with things to do, places to see, and people to fight – offering a massive amount of options for fans of the series and new players alike. In addition, the western versions of the game will come pre-packaged with codes for the DLC, already localized and ready to be enjoyed. With gameplay that you truly won’t find anywhere else, we think that Yakuza 3 is genuinely one of the PS3’s best titles, and we hope you’ll think so too when you play it.
Then, over on Kotaku, a SEGA rep told the site that it had to do with scheduling and localization.
“Regarding Yakuza 3, we had a tight schedule to abide by for localizing and releasing Yakuza 3 in the west,” said the rep. “Due to the limited time we were given, we had to leave certain bits of the game out and we chose portions we felt didn’t resonate with western culture i.e. a Japanese history quiz show and the concept of hostess clubs.
“We understand that this is not the optimum thing to do, but given the options of releasing the next chapter of a beloved game so that our fans can experience the story of Yakuza vs. not releasing it at all, we felt it was worth it to release it with 99 percent of the content intact.
“We made sure that the story in no way, shape or form changed from the lack of the quiz show or hostess clubs. You can still go into Cabarets and on dates with the ladies in the game and Kazuma still kicks major ass.”
So there you have it. Still no Hostess Club or Quiz Show, no matter what the explanation.
The game’s out March 12 on PS3, and we have some new screens for you here.
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