Yakuza 5 Reveal May 24th

The Yakuza franchise has a small but passionate fanbase in North America, and those fans should be glad to hear that Sega is teasing an announcement for May 24th, and it's most likely related to Yakuza 5.

Over at the official Yakuza site, construction work is being done. The site shows an animated image of construction workers working on the city of Kamurocho, while series star Kazuma Kiryu stands at the side. The site also contains a video that recaps the events of the four main-series games, giving players a refresh on the story going into Yakuza 5.

Andriasang has translated the text in the video, which concludes with the text "And then..." followed by "First look on May 24th." As Andriasang also points out, Yakuza games usually get their full reveal through Japanese gaming mag Famitsu, and the next issue is slated to hit May 24th.

All signs point to this being a reveal for Yakuza 5. The game was officially announced last year, alongside PSP title Yakuza: Black Panther 2. Sega's been tight lipped on the game since, and aside from some technical enhancements, little is known about it. It's unclear whether players will only play as Kazuma like in the first three games, or if they'll be switching between multiple different characters as we did in Yakuza 4 and Dead Souls. Players shouldn't expect Sega to give news of a North American release date yet, as Yakuza games usually take around a year to be localized for a Western release.

While Sega has seen some recent financial trouble, the Yakuza franchise is usually a strong seller for them. Despite their success with the franchise, Yakuza Studio's recently released Binary Domain didn't do too hot, selling only 20 000 units in North America - let's hope Yakuza 5 fares better.

As a big fan of the Yakuza franchise, the 24th can't come soon enough. There's also supposed to be a Metro: Last Light reveal that day, so needless to say, May 24th is certainly going to be good day for gamers.

Yakuza 5 is currently in development for the PS3.

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Source: Ryu-Ga-Gotoku.comAndriasang