With Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on the horizon, Sega is releasing upgraded versions of Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami & Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PS5, XSX|S & PC on 8th December. Now they’ve announced that they’re offering them at significant discounts, and even as free upgrades for existing owners of the digital versions of the game.
Sadly this does mean that owners of the games on disc are being left out in the cold, and if the games have been obtained via PS Plus or Game Pass, you also aren’t eligible for the upgrade. There is also the caveat that these are new platform specific releases of each game, so save data does not carry over between versions of the game, and upgrade pricing is only available for purchases prior to 8th December at 8:59AM PST.
With three games, there are three quite different upgrades from last gen to new, and varying fees. Across the board there will be resolution and performance improvements on the newer consoles – Kiwami 2 will now run at 60fps, per a Japanese FAQ –  but Sega has spent time adding text language localisation for French, Italian, German, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Russian.
Yakuza 0 is becoming Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut across PS5, XSX|S and PC, and is gaining the Red Light Raid mode that debuted with the Switch 2 release, and the Bubble theme song that wasn’t in the original western release. For this reason, the upgrade price is £11.99/€14.99, and full game price is £44.99/€49.99.
Yakuza Kiwami’s upgrade is £1.70/€1.99, while the full game price will stay at £15.99/€19.99. This is seemingly a nominal fee to offset the international licensing of the songs Receive You [Reborn] and Bleed that weren’t in the original western release.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 has no additional songs, so the upgrade is free for existing digital owners, and the full game price will also stay at £15.99/€19.99. From a gameplay perspective, this will actually be the biggest upgrade, as the original PS4 release topped out at 30fps, compared to the 60fps of the older game engine in Yakuza 0 and Kiwami.
It’s a generally nice move from Sega to make these upgrades free or low cost, though it is a shame that the largely throwaway Red Light Raid mode from Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut comes with such a premium for that game.
Source: Sega
It’s great to see Sega offering discounted and free upgrades for the Yakuza series! Fans will surely appreciate the chance to play these classics on newer platforms. Exciting times ahead with Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties coming soon!
appreciate the chance to revisit these classics with enhanced graphics. Plus, the anticipation for Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties adds even more excitement to the franchise’s future! It’s a good time to be a fan of the series.
I totally agree! The upgraded graphics definitely breathe new life into these games. It’s exciting to see how the enhancements will affect gameplay, especially with the upcoming titles like Yakuza Kiwami 3. It’ll be interesting to see how the narrative evolves alongside the visual upgrades!