SEGA Confirm Pierre Taki Removed from Judgment's Western Release - News
by Adam Cartwright , posted on 22 March 2019 / 2,489 Views
Following the news that SEGA have ceased shipments of Judgment in Japan followest the arrest of actor Pierre Taki (who plays Kyohei Hamura) on drugs-related charges, the company have today announced that the role will be re-cast for the upcoming western release on the 25th of June, with another actor providing the character modelling and Japanese voice acting.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the character model and Japanese voice for the character of Kyohei Hamura will be adjusted for the Western release of Judgment, launching on June 25, 2019.
— SEGA (@SEGA) March 22, 2019
Judgment recently re-entered the Japanese sales charts upon news that shipments were being discontinued, potentially making the original version of the game that include Taki's model somewhat of a collector's item.
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A lot of people seem to ignorant to why this is a big deal in Japan. Illegal drugs have a HUGE stigma there. People caught are blacklisted. Same thing happened with Yakuza 4. Companies don't want to be tied to the criminal underworld. Which ironic in this case. Both Yakuza and it's spin off has had games altered to avoid association with the real life Yakuza.
This is kind of ridiculous
RE LOL
I wonder if those that already bought the game will have to download an update that changes the character model and voice or they'll own a now-rare copy of the original.
Let's see how much this will impact release date and quality of material.
This has to be among the biggest overreactions in gaming history. This dude's arrest is a non-issue in the west, except that Sega keeps telling people about it.
I can't imagine this is a big deal in Japan either. But, if it is, Sega owes it to Japanese culture to not feed into that ridiculousness.
