Drugs Put a Stop to Judgment Sales in Asia

Some unexpected news has come out regarding Judgment, the Yakuza spin-off. In light of legal troubles involving Pierre Taki, who has a voice role in Judgment, Sega has halted sales of the game in Asia, where it is known as Judge Eyes, until further notice. This will affect both physical and digital sales. Sega will not be updating the official website and has deleted every tweet related to the game, as well. Judgment was released in Japan back in December 2018.

The move comes as Taki was arrested on drug charges after testing positive for cocaine. An official press release from Sega said the company “received arrest reports,” and it is “currently confirming the facts.” Sega has not indicated any other course of action regarding the title at this time.

Another question mark regards the Western release of Judgment. While it does feature an English language track, it also comes packed with the original Japanese audio. A Western release date was just announced recently, though this does throw this into question. Considering the lengths Sega is going to remove any mention of this game, it’s totally possible that the launch could be canceled. If not, then we could see a release delayed as Sega attempts to update the game with a new actor.

Judgment was supposed to give anyone who preorders digitally early access, so it will be interesting to see how that is impacted by whatever decision the company makes. However, until Sega makes an official decision regarding this situation, we won’t know what the future of Judgment is. Hopefully, more news on that front will be available soon. Until further notice, Judgment is set release in the West on June 25, 2019 for the PlayStation 4.

[Source: Sega]