'Yakuza 5' slated for mid-November release due to translation issues

First launched in Japan back in 2012, “Yakuza 5” is a game many Western fans have been waiting for. It’s taken a while to get the game ported, and it seems like fans still have a month to wait, as “Yakuza 5” reportedly faced a number of technical issues, which have now been fixed.

According to a blog post from Sega, there were some localisation bugs that prevented the programmers from changing the Japanese text into English. It apparently got so bad that the programmers had to go to the source code to fix the problem, which took longer than originally expected.

Thankfully, the problem has been fixed and the developers have continued working on the game. If progress on the title continues without problems, “Yakuza 5” will come out sometime in mid-November, though no definitive release date was given.

Interestingly enough, Gematsu reports that “Yakuza 5” will be coming out on the PlayStation 3 as a PlayStation Network exclusive. Given the three-year gap, one could assume that the game would get ported to the PS4, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

“Yakuza” is a unique series, mixing beat-em-up gameplay seen in classic titles like “Golden Axe” or “Double Dragon” and adding an open world to explore. The series is fairly popular in Japan and has a cult following in the West, though the games always come a few years late.

The series has proven to be popular enough to get a number of spinoff titles like “Yakuza: Dead Souls,” where players take on the living dead instead of other Yakuza members. Most recently, Sega announced on the Tokyo Game Show that “Yakuza 6” would be the first game in the series to come to PS4, and it will come out sometime in autumn 2016. No plans for a Western release were revealed, though fans can reportedly expect a delay.

It is expected that fans of “Yakuza” can look forward to the game’s release next month, despite the lack of a specific release date from Sega. The game not getting a physical release is interesting, considering that “Yakuza 3,” “Yakuza 4” and “Yakuza: Dead Souls” were available in retail stores.

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