One of the actors in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ Judge Eyes, Pierre Taki — who plays the character Kyohei Hamura in the detective thriller — has been arrested on cocaine charges. This is a very devastating turn of events for Sega, and the company has opted to halt sales of Judge Eyes in Japan on the PS4, both digitally and physically.
According to a post over on the official Sega of Japan website, the company stated…
“We believe that the arrest of Pierre, who is a performer in our product JUDGE EYES: The Testament of the Grim Reaper, is highly regrettable.
“We have received arrest reports and are currently confirming the facts, but for the time being we have decided to refrain from shipping and making [digital sales] of the [product available], as well as refraining from posting about the product on social media. We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers and related parties.”
The news was devastating for some, especially given that it’s a niche title and no one wanted to see the game get sidelined by something like this.
However, a lot of fans think that it was overkill deleting all the tweets from the Sega social media accounts promoting the game.
The only tweets available of Judge Eyes at present links back to the announcement they made regarding Pierre Taki.
販売自粛に伴い、『JUDGE EYES：死神の遺言』に関するツイート等は削除いたしました。何卒ご理解のほどよろしくお願いいたします。https://t.co/ET4m1CxJdz
— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) March 13, 2019
As reported by Gematsu, the game originally came out in Japan back in December of 2018. Judge Eyes is tentatively scheduled to release on June 25th under the title Judgment for the PS4. However, the release of the Western version of the game is now up in the air.
In an update in the Gematsu piece, Wall Street Journal reporter Takashi Mochizuki noted that the game’s Western release is still under consideration and that no decision regarding Judgment on the PS4 in the West has been made yet.
セガ：今年に予定されていた海外での「JUDGE EYES：死神の遺言」発売は、現在対応を検討中。決定した事項はない。
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) March 13, 2019
Basically gamers who were looking forward to Judgment on the PS4 may have to import it if Sega decides to pull the plug for good. However, many suspect that perhaps they will simply remove Pierre Taki from the game and release it anyway. Japanese gamers jokingly posted receipts of the game saying that their hands slipped and they accidentally purchased it before it was pulled from the PlayStation Store.
同じく今買いました！
— ゆうか /Lily Klee@パン鯖FF14 (@takigizayo) March 13, 2019
Others lamented that they weren’t fast enough to buy the game before Sega halted the sales, but noted that they would purchase it as soon as it becomes available again.
For now we have to wait on Sega to make an announcement about the fate of the Western version of the highly anticipated title from the makers of Yakuza.
(Thanks for the news tip zac za)
