Judgment Becomes Collectible Item in Japan After Drug Scandal

After making headlines for drug scandal, price for Yakuza spin-off Judgment goes sky high and becomes a must-have item.

As an action-adventure game and a Yakuza series spin-off by developer/publisher Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku studio, PlayStation 4-exclusive title Judgment was doing great after it came out in December 2018 and was set for a worldwide release on June 2019.

However, things went south pretty quick when one of the game's voice actors, Pierre Taki was arrested on a drug scandal and the game is entirely pulled off from sales in Japan, which has made it a collector's item for players these days.

judgment drug scandal collectors item ps4 sega
Judgment Becomes Collectible Item in Japan

RELATED: Judgment Pulled From Sales in Japan

Only weeks after a long-anticipated Western launch date announcement, Taki was arrested for alleged possession and usage of cocaine, leading Sega to voluntarily stop distribution of the game from digital and retail stores in response.

Although there was no official statement on when they will come back in marketplaces, it is easily predictable that the publisher may not resume sales anytime soon as long as the investigation on Taki is ongoing, thus creating a high demand for the PS4 title.

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Judgment drug scandal has caused a massive spike in price in all over Japan and since there are no new copies available, used copies are currently being sold for as much as a whooping ¥45,000 or $400 following the controversy.

Originally, it used to sell for a price of ¥8,953 or $80 only but now that supply is scarce from source, even retailers are charging somewhat $100 or more. It all happened so fast within a few months of its release and the game is a must-buy item all of a sudden.

yakuza judgment ps4 pierre taki kyohei hamura sega
Kyohei Hamura Voiced by Pierre Taki

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Aside from serving as a voice actor for the game, Pierre Taki has also dubbed voice for Olaf in animated musical fantasy Frozen and reprised his role in Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts III, which will be replaced soon according to Square Enix.

Known as Judge Eyes in Japan, Judgment probably won't see an unusual price hike when it will be released worldwide but then again, we don't really know for sure yet that whether or not dates will be pushed back because of Taki's arrest.
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