Yakuza creator pitched the Yakuza series to Nintendo and MS and they said no.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/yakuza-series-was-pitched-to-nintendo-and-microsof/1100-6461165/

"...I abandoned the idea of selling worldwide," he said. "Next, I decided I wouldn't mind if female players didn't like the game; then that no children were allowed. When I decided all that, the only target left was the Japanese male."

Of course, now that the Yakuza franchise has received critical acclaim--and even found worldwide commercial success with recent releases in the West--both Microsoft and Nintendo want in. "Back then they said, 'No we don't want it.' Now they say, 'We want it!'" Nagoshi said. "They didn't understand the reason why I created it."

Suck for them!

Makes sense. MS doesn't want any games and Nintendo doesn't want M rated games.

I’d thought Microsoft would have had slight interest in it... Damn that’s crazy. Thank you Sony. lol

It wouldn't sell well on Xbox. They don't like Japanese games. Nintendo f**cked up, though. Especially since they actually do have mature games like Doom & L.A. Noire on their platform

Well it’s not the first time a company turned something down that went on to be successful and it won’t be the last.

@Archangel3371: Sorry mate but you're wrong only MS do that.

/sarcasm

Explains why it "can't" be released on Switch now - they're holding a grudge.

quoted from the same article "Nagoshi admitted that even Sega was against Yakuza at the start."

@i_p_daily: Oops. My bad. lol

I admire this man for sticking to his alpha nippon male vision.

End of the day it's Nintendo and Xbox own loss.

Yakuza won't sell on the Xbox because they are in a mess right now. Nintendo doesn't like 18+ games, so they will stick to their own guns (Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and other child-friendly games), steady the ship, and don't branch out.

Playstation and PC already won Yakuza.

No wonder MS has been stuck with the same three franchises for decades. Not daring, no vision. Imagine MS dominating gaming. It would be a disaster. Good thing Sony has been there to keep them in check and to support variety and quality instead.

interesting, so it had nothing to do with wiiU sales.

some people got to eat crow now.

I think the reasons for Microsoft and Nintendo rejecting Yakuza had something to do with Shenmue. Essentially, Yakuza was like a spiritual successor to Shenmue. Since the Shenmue series was a financial disaster on the Dreamcast and then the Xbox, neither Microsoft nor Nintendo would've been interested in taking a risk on another Shenmue-like game from Sega.

As for Sony, they was rolling in cash from the PS2 success, so they could afford to take a risk on Yakuza. In comparison, the Xbox division was still in the red, and hadn't turned a profit yet. While Nintendo was financially struggling before the Wii. So Sony was in the best shape to be taking a risk on Yakuza.

If they let Wii U sales affect their thinking, they must let Switch user base affect their thinking (if they are consistent).

So we are just going to ignore the whole article?

Just take a quote out of context and make it SW worthy?

He said that not even Sega wanted the game either.

Sega ultimately DID take it and published it on PS.

Why are people thanking Sony?

They didnt approve it either, it was just published on PS because Xbox doesnt exist in Japan.

I look at this as "this is why competition" is good...you have Nintendo, MS & Sony all with different mindsets...otherwise this series would not have happened..if not for Sony..cause they didn't reject it, the other 2 did. :)

Thank god they said no. Had yakuza released on nintendo the sales would been terrible. Oh wait they did, the game sold terrible on nintendo.

You mean Sega.

Sony had nothing to do with the production or publication of the game/series

There was an article back in the day that said that Sony showed interest but didnt pick it up either, which is why it fell to Sega.

@navyguy21: I think I’m the only one that really said thanks Sony. It’s no biggie, I still give them thanks and Sega. I dunno why it’s a big deal.

Though where is the article that said Sony didn’t pick it up? I mean, I don’t know if that changes anything anyway, since Sony was the only platform to pick it up in the end.

@Link71113: As Yakuza fans I do have to thanks Sony other wise I’ll never get to see Yakuza 5 in the West.

Micro$$$$$oft always backpedaling just like the lemmings LMAO

For those saying why thank sony, here is the article. Nagoshi said this regarding why its on playstation;

http://segabits.com/blog/2011/08/24/nagoshi-reveals-why-yakuza-is-playstation-exclusive/

“At the beginning of the project we spoke to all the platform holders including Sony and Microsoft,” he said, “Every platform holder was negative about this prospect, but we kept on pushing because we believed in the potential, and as we kept going one platform holder that showed interest and saw the prospects of this title was Sony.”

Thank me later.

@ni6htmare01: Yeah. Of course I’m in agreement. The series is too good, I hate that it took this long to finally play it. But it seems to be getting an even bigger fanbase now.

@Link71113: yeah the bigger the better, that way we know it will come to the West for sure.

How did Sony took a risk. SEGA was the publisher not Sony. Funny why TC never mentioned Sony alongside Nintendo and MS.

@pc_rocks:

http://segabits.com/blog/2011/08/24/nagoshi-reveals-why-yakuza-is-playstation-exclusive/

“At the beginning of the project we spoke to all the platform holders including Sony and Microsoft,” he said, “Every platform holder was negative about this prospect, but we kept on pushing because we believed in the potential, and as we kept going one platform holder that showed interest and saw the prospects of this title was Sony.”

@pc_rocks: The article gives the impression that Sony had a role in the original Yakuza's development... But not so sure now.

Published by Sega.

Neither published not funded by Sony. Published by SEGA. From your own article: SEGA’s action adventure series Yakuza has never moved from the Sony platforms.

What he probably meant was Sony allowed the game to be sold on its platform Playstation by SEGA and didn't cesor it like Nintendo used to do in the past. They didn't took any risk by funding it.

Sony showed interest, but they still didnt pick it up.

They ended up with Sega.

The games are not published or funded...........not even in part...........by Sony.

Yakuza is a great series and i LOVE Yakuza 0.

I can see why not everyone would like it though, different kind of game.

The old guys at MS mad a lot of terrible decisions.

How does MS greenlight garbage like Recore and Screamride but not see the potential in Yakuza? A semi-open world crime drama with Streets of Rage-like gameplay and wacky side missions/activities. It sells itself.

This is why I have no confidence in their new studios. Phil wouldn't know a good game if it slapped him in the face. He's either going to put them on old IPs or force them to make some "me too" clone of God of War or Horizon.

@Jag85:

I think he meant not censored by Sony not that Sony funded it or anything. And knowing the time frame of the article and when the series debuted, PC wasn't that big in Japan or a thing most Japanese devs considered. Seems like that's what he meant when he said Sony believed in their potential. Besides Sony doesn't fund anything unless they own the IP after the Crash fiasco.

Microsoft is allergic to games.

Nintendo is allergic to growing up.

20-20 hindsight.

At the time it was another GTA clone in a sea of GTA clones. Now that the genre has moved on from gangster themes Yakuza stands out especially as GTA stands still to do the online thing.

thank you Sony

No Guns.. No MP..No Driving.. No Space Ranger and no steroid mucho dudes

Sony helped the Yakuza series. Sony gave it a second chance. Sega didn't give up on the series.

Or didn't. During the Wii era, it was almost hard to blame them after their failure with it in the GameCube era (Eternal Darkness, Geist), unless you were a rampant Fatal Frame fan. Now? They want it more than ever! Why else do you think they'd rather contract for another Bayonetta and help Bethesda advertise Skyrim on Switch?

MS? Kind of shocked because they've been trying to aim for Japan for years.

That, and Miyamoto and Nagoshi once worked together on F-Zero GX. It went about as well as the US version of The Protector (1985). Even Miyamoto himself admits it didn't turn out well in an interview with Geoff Keighley.

Well its too little too late for Nintendo now. They should have been trying to build up a fanbase for more mature games on their consoles over the years. Can't expect people who only play Mario, Zelda and Splatoon to buy games like Yakuza.

Hardly, both Nintendo and their base have been supportive for both the Dragonborn and the Umbran Witch. And again, even if they did, people like you would still end up not wanting Nintendo to have a "mature" audience and say "that's on the wrong console, port to PS4/XBONE/PC" (lord knows how many times I read that Eternal Darkness should've been on the PS2, nevermind that risking it being FURTHER buried under OTHER horror games). So don't give me that shit.

You're like anti-PC pundits, say the so called "PC" should stop being so "offended"and get more edgy, yet when they do, you STILL get pissed off. *points to two controversies on two Daily Show alumni*

@nintendoboy16: Slightly off-topic, but what Daily Show controversies are you referring to?

Not at the Daily show per se, but to two alumni from the Jon Stewart era: Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee to particular "you know whos".

Classic Sony. Willing to give something a bit off the beaten path a go.

To be fair, you cant blame Phil for Recore and Screamride. They were developed before he was the decision maker.

But yea, I agree with you for the most part.

If anything, it wouldve given MS variety and also attracted a crowed other than dude-bros.

But like ive been saying since the beginning of 360, Xbox was being run by corporate suits rather than gaming industry vets.

MS fixed that with Balmer and Don Mattrick left.

Phil has turned Xbox from a shit show to a good console with a shitty past.

Sure, this gen was lost from year 2, but he has made great moves and I think the devs have more creative freedom now.

Look at State of Decay 2. Game was broken and buggy but gamers love it so they stick with it.

Thats something i think they have learned from Sony. Support your devs even when they make broken games.

Yeah, I'm sure Sony has never passed on a game before...

<insert massive eyeroll>

Keep reaching, cows.