The Yakuza series has received a surge in popularity recently due to the games finally catching on in the west, so SEGA made the wise decision to remaster PS3 titles Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5 for PS4, at least in Japan. The Yakuza 3 remaster released in Japan back in August, topping the Media Create sales charts, and today we finally learned from Famitsu that the remastered version of Yakuza 4 will be hitting PS4 next January.
Specifically, you can expect Yakuza 4 to come out in Japan on January 17, 2019. While this does mean the remaster is missing its initial “fall 2018” release window, it still isn’t that far off. The Yakuza 5 remaster is still seemingly on track to release in Spring 2019. At this time, SEGA has still not announced any plans to bring these remasters west, though I would still peg their localization chances as likely considering the series’ growing popularity over here.
Famitsu’s coverage of the Yakuza 4 remaster also came with an interesting tidbit of information about a voice actor being recast. Masayoshi Tanimura, one of Yakuza 4’s main characters, had some lines that needed to be re-recorded, but his original voice actor Hiroki Narimiya has retired from voice acting in the time since Yakuza 4’s initial release. For that reason, Masayoshi Tanimura’s lines have been re-recorded with Toshiki Masuda, a popular Japanese voice actor and stage actor.
DualShockers will be sure to let you know if more information surfaces about the remaster between now and its release. Yakuza 4 is currently available on PS3, but will be hitting PS4 as well in Japan on January 17.