For decades, fans of Japanese games have had to worry about a number of factors when trying to procure some of the country’s best releases. Sadly, having to wonder about whether a certain title was going to make its way out of Japan has been commonplace for a long time in the game industry. It was a familiar act for gamers in the 1990s and early 2000s to read about Japanese titles in magazines, only to find out that the next title in their favorite franchises was still incredibly far off. These thoughts have even extended to wondering if entire games would end up being localized. As time has moved on, things have continued to get a lot better.

In the same way that almost all anime series now have a quick turnaround time regarding translation due to companies like Funimation and Crunchyroll, and the localizers who work with them, most video games have followed suit. Rarely do fans now have to worry about the latest Square Enix, Nintendo, or Capcom games not being localized within a timely manner. This of course could be attributed to the overall size of these particular publishers. However, up until this point, there have still been a handful of major franchises that have had fans waiting for months, if not years, before they got their chance to play the latest entry.

This hasn’t been the case when it comes to a number of Sega games. This is most notable as far as JRPGs are concerned. The glaring examples come from four of arguably the publisher’s biggest franchises: Shin Megami Tensei/Persona and Yakuza/Judgment. To understand how ingrained some of these titles are within the industry, it’s best to remember that the Megami Tensei series debuted three months before Final Fantasy in 1987. As of the writing of this article, the franchise has never had a simultaneous worldwide release for any of the games in the main series or any of its various spin-offs. For a long time, fans would just be happy to get any localization news at all, as many of these titles would also never even be released outside of Japan.

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Things definitely seemed to have changed with the release and success of Persona 5, however. The original version of the game, like many other Atlus titles, would release in other countries months after it debuted in Japan. Even the game’s spin-offs, as well as its updated version, Persona 5 Royal, would also have later release dates. That’s why the news of Shin Megami Tensei V’s release date was met with such joy among the fanbase. At Nintendo’s E3 direct, Sega and Atlus revealed that the upcoming title would launch only a day after its Japanese release. It’s difficult not to be excited after this news, as it’s possible to view this release date as a significant turning point in the way some Japanese publishers view international customers.

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Image via Atlus

It’s become clear that in a handful of years, Sega in particular has become much more open as to how they handle releases outside of Japan. This is evident by looking at the shrinking time between release dates, as well as their willingness into porting their games to PC. Despite middling sales when it first came out on consoles, Valkyria Chronicles would stand atop the Steam charts when it was ported to PC six years after its initial launch. This, along with the continued success of Yakuza as a franchise in the past couple of years, could be seen as a major win for the publisher.

Yakuza as a series is an interesting case, as Sega now appears to be prepping it for a simultaneous release schedule. When Yakuza 3 initially launched back in 2010, a year after its Japanese release, it arrived with a lot of cut content. This would include staples of the franchise, as more than 20 side quests, as well as a number of minigames, were all axed. In an interview with gamesindustry.biz, series producer Daisuke Sato spoke about restoring some of the content for its remaster, and how it was important to fans of the franchise.

Yakuza as a series has had a number of localization stories to be told, and many at Sega have even been quite upfront about them. The most notable trouble the series has run into overseas involves the story of Yakuza 5 taking three years to get a release outside of Japan. This would be a long turnaround even for some games back in the SNES days. It turned out that Sony themselves had a big hand in Sega bringing the game over. Though fans were sad that it was a digital-only release, they’d later get to own it physically when the remastered collection would launch. It was this release, along with Yakuza 0, that truly kickstarted the Yakuza renaissance that we are now witnessing.

It’s clear that ever since Yakuza 0, Sega and Ryuu Ga Gotoku Studio have made it a point to allow overseas fans the opportunity to catch up with the series in the easiest way possible. In doing so, fans of the franchise have been getting remasters and remakes for the games on a yearly, if not bi-yearly basis. Yakuza: Like a Dragon would still launch months later worldwide, but things were soon to change for games from RGG Studio.

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Image via Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio

When Judgment was first revealed, a spin-off of the Yakuza series, it was par for the course as far as release dates were concerned. It would launch worldwide a few months after its Japanese release. However, when the game’s sequel, Lost Judgment, was unveiled, it was announced that the game would have a global launch on September 24, 2021. In the same way that fans of the Persona franchise were most likely celebrating the news of a worldwide release for Shin Megami Tensei V, so were fans of the Yakuza franchise in regards to Lost Judgment’s release date.

Fans of Japanese games and JRPGS have a lot to be happy about lately. Though there are certain titles from smaller publishers that still find themselves having to take extra time to be localized, larger publishers are continuing their output at a quicker pace. As the Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Monster Hunter, and Tales series, among others, now push for worldwide launches, one can’t help but be pleased. The only major series that still appears to be lagging behind is Dragon Quest, but hopefully, that changes with the upcoming remake of Dragon Quest III. In any event, as Shin Megami Tensei V and Judgment also look to launch worldwide, it’s great to see these well-established franchises now taking a larger step into the spotlight.

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