Yakuza’s Makers Have Made Another Unforced Error

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We’re really excited about how Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is coming together – the number of classic games included is amazing! – but it’s clear RGG Studio has made some mistakes along the way.

Sony recently made a controversial choice: they removed the original PlayStation 4 version of Yakuza 0 from digital stores to promote the updated version, Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut. Now, the only way to play digitally is to purchase the new release, unless you have a physical copy of the original.

Possibly learning from past criticism, it’s trying to find a middle ground, though it doesn’t quite go far enough.

You can purchase Yakuza 3 Remastered from the PlayStation Store until February 12th, when the updated version becomes available. After that date, it will no longer be available for purchase.

You can still purchase Yakuza 3 Remastered by buying the Yakuza Complete Series Bundle, which is priced at £114.99 or $129.99. Keep an eye out for sales, as it’s sometimes discounted.

With Yakuza 3 Remastered available on its own for just £15.99/$19.99, it seems unfair to make players pay a much higher price if they want to play the original version of the game.

Okay, so you do get a bunch of other Yakuza games with this bundle – Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 4, 5, and 6 – which is cool. But honestly, if I just want to replay the original Yakuza 3, buying all those extra games feels a little unnecessary!

This feels like a completely unnecessary mistake. It’s great that SEGA is still letting people play the original game, but there was no reason to handle things this way. Why couldn’t both the remake and the remastered version be available at the same time?

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2026-01-17 10:36