For those of you unaware of the situation, Pierre Taki — voice actor in
Yakuza series' spin-off
Judgment —
was arrested earlier in March on account of illegal posession and use of cocaine, which violates Japan's drug control law.
The whole controversy led to
Ryū ga Gotoku and Sega to remove the voice actor entirely from the game, as well as holding digital sales and shipments until they had found a substitute to replace the convicted voice actor; keeping in mind that
Judgment has been out in Japan for a while now.
Thankfully, we also found out that the
Western release date for Judgment would not be changed, and Western PlayStation 4 owners will be able to enjoy the game when it releases on the
25th of June.
Sega and Ryū ga Gotoku have announced today tht digital sales and shipments for
Judgment will resume on the 18th of July, which is a few weeks after the Western release of the game. The developer has been working hard to change Pierre Taki's likeness in the game, as well as hiring a new voice actor to replace him, so it is understandable that they needed some extra time to sort things out.
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.