Examples of Damage Control in Gaming: The Eyes of Judgment Will Open Again

The post release period for Judge Eyes featured an unexpected twist in Japan and Asian territories, one that led to publisher Sega taking drastic action. It started when one of the several live-action actors involved with the game, Pierre Taki, was arrested for testing positive for cocaine use. Japan and other Asian countries treat drug use seriously, which led to many works Taki was involved in being pulled off shelves within a short time.

Judge Eyes was among them, which only released three months prior in mid-December, with Sega going as far as removing its official website and even all promotion for it from their social media accounts. It was insane to see them essentially erase its existence for anyone who lives in a western country, where punishments for drug charges are laxer for well-moneyed individuals.

The fiasco left several questions unanswered. What would happen with Judge Eyes after Sega halted it? What would this mean for the western release, which will be known as Judgment? I included predictions as to what could happen in my post, but there was also the question of how long Sega would take to answer these. You’re reading this post here, so you can tell it wasn’t too long.

Sega confirmed via Twitter that the character model and Japanese voice for the character Taki played, Kyohei Hamura, will be changed for all versions worldwide. The English voice, provided by Fred Tatasciore, will presumably remain unaltered, and will hopefully fit the new character model. Fortunately, despite fears that Judgment would be delayed or even cancelled if Sega didn’t think the adjustments were worth it, the game is still planned for release on June 25th.

The release date is good considering how few games still release during the summertime despite evidence that people purchase video games all year long, so they understandably didn’t want to change it. This also means they plan to implement a replacement character model and get a new actor for Hamura in a quick fashion, similar in concept to what occurred with Masayoshi Tanimura between the original and remastered releases of Yakuza 4. Whether the new character model will be based on the new actor at all is another question. We should see more answers soon.

In the meantime, the promotional images and the character bio for Hamura have been removed from the official western website, though they didn’t go as far as pulling the whole thing down like in Japan. They’ll need it for the promotional period over the next three months.

Meanwhile, it’s not as if Sega is preventing their staffers from discussing it in Japan, since director (and company Chief Creative Officer) Toshihiro Nagoshi answered questions about the game during a Sega Nama broadcast streamed on Sega’s YouTube channel. He started by discussing how surprised he was at Taki’s arrest, and how people wouldn’t stop messaging him to tell him all night when it happened. He agreed with the decision to halt the game’s sales, though understood why others (even in Japan) felt that went too far. This, he said, wouldn’t have happened if it was for an older game, as previously seen with Yakuza 4.

Nagoshi also acknowledged how Judge Eyes’ sales spiked after Sega halted sales, which was bound to happen, and humorously wondered why these people didn’t buy it when it first released. Anyone who knew how drug charges are handled in Japan knew it would be disappearing from stores before Sega confirmed it themselves. Interestingly, Nagoshi understated just how well it sold after the news; he claimed it reached #3 on Amazon afterward, but it actually reached #1 and remained there until it sold out. The game also resurfaced in sales charts, where it sold another 8,677 copies according to Media Create. (It’s nice that we were able to see this before Media Create starts hiding numbers from the public.) The game has now sold through 97 percent of its shipment, and second-hand copies are already going for exorbitant prices on resale markets.

Nagoshi disconfirmed recent rumors suggesting that the developers already have plans to make two sequels. But given the renewed interest in the game, which could carry over to the eventual rerelease, it would be a surprise if they didn’t create at least one. Sega won’t officially say anything about a sequel until the first game has returned to store shelves at the very least; but it’s more likely that they’ll wait until after the next Yakuza game arrives, which is well into development. If there is a sequel, though, the Kyohei Hamura character will not be part of it, even with the redone model and voice. That’s somewhat of a shame given how those who played it liked the character, but previous Yakuza games have shown how good the team is with creating new villains, so this could work out.

In the meantime, Sega should keep everyone updated about when the new Hamura will debut, something the team hopefully isn’t overworking themselves with, and when they’ll start selling Judge Eyes again in Japan and Asian territories. I’m sure Sega’s western counterparts would also like to start advertising the game with all the characters again, in the lead-up to the June 25th release date.