Yakuza, Sega's long-running game series about high-level organized crime and orphanage management in Japan, is headed to the big screen. A Variety report says that Sega has done a deal to develop a live-action Yakuza film with 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content.
"Yakuza offers us a new playground in which to set compelling stories with complex characters in a unique environment that audiences have rarely seen before," 1212 Entertainment told the site. "The saga of Kazuma Kiryu has a built-in cinematic appeal—a mix of kinetic action with bursts of comedy, multiple converging storylines, and a gripping journey towards redemption."
The first game in the series debuted on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, but it didn't arrive on PC until 2018, with the prequel Yakuzo 0—which, by the way, is excellent. Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2, remakes of the first two games in the series, followed in 2019.
Fans of the series may recall that it won't actually be the first film based on the Yakuza games. That honor apparently goes to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, based on the original Yakuza. It looks like a hell of a ride.
It's still very early in the process—1212 and Wild Sheep are still searching for scriptwriters—and so obviously there's no sign of a possible release date yet. The next game in the Yakuza series, also entitled Like a Dragon but unrelated to the film, is set to come out on November 13.
