For some background, the Judgment series stars Takayuki Yagami, who is played by Takuya Kimura, a top actor and former member of boy band SMAP. According to a report by Japanese showbiz site Nikkan Taishu, Kimura’s talent agency Johnny & Associates had issues with the actor’s likeness appearing on PC.
The agency’s strictness to where its actors’ likeness can appear also meant that it is also particularly prickly when it comes to online environments. Which for some reason meant that Kimura’s looks as Yagami can not be used on PC. Which would have been a problem for the Judgment series as a whole, as at the time Sega was of the mind that, if it can’t put the game on PC to sell more copies, it would just give up on the series. The spin off also inherited the more action-based gameplay as the mainline Like A Dragon series went more towards the JRPG direction. Should it be canned, it would also mean an end for that gameplay style for the studio Ryu Ga Gotoku. Fun fact, the studio’s name is the name of the main game series in Japanese, and the name also translates to “like a dragon”. Whatever it is that happened behind the scenes since that report from back in July of last year, the agency and Sega must have come to an agreement of sorts. Which leads to the Judgment games coming to Steam, which also means a better chance for a sequel. (Source: Steam)
