The Yakuza series has had somewhat of a renaissance over the last few years in the west. The series has always been healthy in Japan, but there was a period where the series wasn’t getting localized, or doing so at a snail’s pace. While it may never make it to that blockbuster AAA status in the west, it’s definitely gotten a higher profile that bodes well for the next game in the franchise. And it seems that profile may actually help bring a “lost” episode of the franchise over in the form of Yakuza Ishin.
The game originally released in 2014 for both the PS3 and PS4. A spin-off of the series, it takes the setting to feudal Japan with the same classic gameplay. The game was never localized due to both the niche nature of the series in general, as well as the specialized setting. But in a recent IGN Live interview, Producer Daisuke Sato said that the entry was being considered by Sega for a localization.
With the recent announcement of several Yakuza remasters coming westward, it would be a great thing for fans outside Japan to have a fuller collection. The games are notoriously text and speech heavy, so a localization would also be no small feat. Hopefully, we will manage to see the game outside Japan at some point.