More than games: Sega reveals plans for Yakuza and Persona in film and other areas

Following the success of the Sonic films, Sega hints that the Yakuza and Persona series "may soon appear in more than just video games".

Here's What We Know

The "Sonic the Hedgehog" film earned $306.8 million, a triumphant success considering it all started with one of the video game's most mercilessly ridiculed characters. "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" proved an even bigger success, grossing an amazing $405.4 million.

Speaking to CNBC, Shuji Utsumi, Sega's chief operating officer, expressed the company's intention to capitalise on this success by bringing popular brands to other platforms. "We have other major IPs and, I cannot say too much about it but we are thinking of reviving other classical Sega IPs too. Right now there are two big IPs other than Sonic. One is Persona", - he noted, "and also our Yakuza titles. Yakuza is really unique. But that big one is also coming next year too". Utsumi added: "But also, as I say, we are trying to be in a lot of different kinds of business areas, like Roblox, movies. All these IPs can be somewhere else other than games soon."

Alas, Utsumi doesn't provide further details on possible adaptations at Sega, but the idea of a crime-drama film or TV series about Yakuza sounds appealing, provided the studio that acquired the rights can faithfully portray the character of the work. A film had already been made on the video game in 2007, titled Like a Dragon, but there is clearly significant potential in the series, especially given the number of outstanding games released in the meantime.

Persona has also already transcended the world of video games before, with the anime series Persona 5, which ran from April 2018 to March 2019. But like with Yakuza, the series still has plenty of material that could potentially be adapted into multiple films or one major TV series.

Source: GamesRadar