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Lost judgment could be the last judgement if Sega fails to find a compromise with that of Takuya Kimura agency.
The main character of the video game developer by Séga Judgment had big shoes to fill. Released in 2018, Judgment was the successor to the company’s real-time action Yakuza series, whose charismatic protagonist Kazuma Kiryu had led the franchise through seven games by then before retiring at the end of his narrative saga.
But Sega brought some serious star power by recruiting none other than Takuya Kimura, former member of the boy band SMAP and arguably the most popular man in Japanese show business, to play the role of Judgment main character, lawyer turned private investigator Takayuki Yagami. Takuya didn’t just provide his voice, as Yagami is a 48-year-old singer / actor lookalike.
Judgment became a success, selling over a million copies worldwide, and Sega is currently putting the finishing touches on a sequel, titled Lost Judgment., slated for release this fall. However, no matter how Lost judgment is received by fans and critics, it could end up being the last game in the series.
Trailer for Lost judgment
Speaking to an anonymous entertainment industry insider, Japanese web magazine Nikkan Taishu cites that a disagreement between Sega and Johnny’s, Japan’s most powerful male talent agency, to which Kimura is attached. Johnny’s has traditionally kept a very tight grip on the visual representations of their performers, and it probably took quite a bit of bickering and financial compensation to allow Kimura to appear in Judgment, which was a PlayStation 4 exclusive at the time of its release.
however, Sega now wants Judgment be a cross-platform version. In April of this year, an improved re-release was released for PlayStation 4 and 5, as well as Microsoft’s Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S, and Google Stadia. For Lost judgment, Sega wants the game to also be available on PC through Steam, and according to the insider, it is these versions without a console that cause a rift between Sega and Johnny’s. Basically, Johnny’s doesn’t want games featuring a Kimura lookalike to be released on PC, possibly because it would make its in-game likeness easy to copy and / or modify. Sega, on the other hand, believes that the Steam / PC versions are critical to the financial viability of the continued Judgment series, and that it does not make economic sense to continue making games if their potential marker size is limited to consoles.
Continue on Judgment So the series would require some sort of compromise, but it looks like neither side is willing to compromise just yet. Kimura himself is actually extremely unhappy at the prospect of the series ending after just two installments, according to the insider, who says the star loves video games and has spent a lot of time playing it. Judgment since its release.
▼ No word on whether or not he had to suffocate a guy to relieve his stress in the situation.
It is not the first time Judgment has encountered issues with his use of real-world celebrities. In March 2019, three months later Judgment Japanese release actor and musician Pierre Taki, who played one of Yagami’s opponents in the game, was arrested for cocaine. Subsequently, the character’s facial model was changed to look less like Taki, and his lines of spoken dialogue were re-recorded by a different actor.
Source: Nikkan Taishu via Jin
Images: YouTube / PlayStation Japan
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