Judgment, Ryū ga Gotoku and Sega's Yakuza series' spinoff, will temporarily not be shipped or sold in Japan following the arrest of Pierre Taki — one of the game's voice actors.
Taki was arrested this Tuesday for alleged use of cocaine, which violates Japan's drug control law. According to a press release by the Japanese developer, "
Sega has received the arrest reports and are currently confirming the facts, but for the time being, we will voluntarily refrain from shipments and digital sales of [Judgment], as well as from things like posting the product’s homepage. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause for customers, as well as the parties involved."
It is still unknown what this could mean for
Judgment itself, given that Taki's character is not only voiced by him, but his character was also modeled after him; something that maybe Sega and Ryū ga Gotoku may want to distance themselves from.
An update by The Wallstreet Journal reporter Takashi Mochizuki reveals that Sega has also considered halting the Western release of the game, but they have not yet come to a decision.
Judgment was already released in Japan back in December of last year, and the Western release was scheduled for a
25th of June release. Following Pierre Taki's arrest, there is the chance that the game's launch in the West is delayed as well, but we will have to patiently wait for more updates from Sega and Ryū ga Gotoku.
SEGA of America is proud to announce that the new courtroom thriller from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios, Project JUDGE (working title), will release in 2019 on the PlayStation®4. Project JUDGE will feature the voice acting talents of Japanese actor/artist Takuya Kimura as the game's main protagonist, Takayuki Yagami.
Judgment is expected to be available for the PlayStation 4 on the 25th of June.
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