Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0
File:Ryugagotoku0.jpg Cover for the PS4 Japanese edition
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Producer(s)	Toshihiro Nagoshi
Writer(s)	Masayoshi Yokoyama
Series	Yakuza
Platforms	PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4
Release date(s)	PlayStation 3 JP 20150312March 12, 2015 PlayStation 4 JP 20150312March 12, 2015 WW 2017
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Yakuza 0 (龍が如く0 誓いの場所, Ryū ga Gotoku Zero, Chikai No Basho, lit. "Like a Dragon 0: The Location of Oath") is a prequel to the Yakuza series of video games. The game takes place in December of 1988 in Kamurocho, a fictionalized recreation of Tokyo's Kabukicho and Shinjuku Golden Gai areas. It was released in Japan for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on March 12 2015, with the Taiwanese version released on May 14, 2015. A North American and European version of the game is scheduled to release in 2017 for the PlayStation 4..

A free accompanying game application for PlayStation Vita, titled Ryū ga Gotoku 0: Free to Play Application for PlayStation Vita (龍が如く0 基本無料アプリ for PlayStation Vita), was released on February 26, 2015.

Development

The game was first announced in a special Yakuza event on August 24 2014 together with a trailer. A Chinese-language localisation of the game was announced in 2014 and eventually released in Asia in May 2015.

On December 5, 2015, at PlayStation Experience 2015 in San Francisco, Sony Computer Entertainment's Gio Corsi announced that Yakuza 0 will be coming to the Americas for the PlayStation 4. While a trailer for the game was released that ends with the statement that it will be releasing in North America and Europe, later that day Sega posted a tweet, on Twitter, saying "We know the Yakuza series is loved by all its fans in Europe but unfortunately at this time we're not able to confirm a Yakuza 0 EU release". Since then that same trailer is now on YouTube with that same statement at the end but with the word Europe removed.

On March 22, 2016 Sega confirmed the game will release in Europe both physically and digitally Early 2017.

Plot Summary

In December, 1988, two unlikely figures from the Yakuza world, Kazuma Kiryu of the Kanto Region and Goro Majima of the Kansai Region, have suddenly found themselves getting involved in the terrible events of so-called "the Vacant Lot", which is the centre of power struggle for all the dark organizations across Japan. In order to find out the truth behind such power struggle, as well as maintain their own innocence and safety, they set out to investigate all the events surrounding the vacant lot.

Reception

Yakuza 0 debuted at number 1 on the Japan software chart in its first week of release. The PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation 4 version sold 146,000 units and 90,000 sales respectively. PlayStation LifeStyle's review of the PS4 version was a 9/10, calling it the best in the series and "the result of 10 years spent not just perfecting a formula, but adding to it." The game received a 36/40 from Famitsu on both platforms.

Sales

As of June 2015, the game has sold over 500,000 copies within Japan and Chinese-speaking regions of Asia. Sega president Haruki Satomi stated that the Chinese version of the game sold more than originally expected.

External links

• Official website