From SEGA’s TGS lie stream yesterday series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi explained that the offer for a Yakuza movie came in but would only go ahead if he could have a say in its development. Great news for fans scared we’ll see another bad Hollywood adaptation.

Thanks to IGN for the stream translation:

“We had an offer from the West, and a Yakuza movie is now underway in Hollywood,” confirmed Nagoshi. “In a case like this, usually you have the side that wants to (license the IP) and the side that owns the IP, and a deal tends to be done as business. But in this case, I made it clear from the beginning that if the content itself was no good and I didn’t agree with it, then I would not want to do it, and I’ve been very upfront about it.”

As the head of the studio and a high-up figure at Sega, Nagoshi would theoretically have the power to stop a licensing deal being made if he did not agree with it. “I’ve told them that it will only proceed if it’s really good,” he said. “So it’s a bit of a different arrangement than the standard (licensing) alliance. I don’t think (a Yakuza movie) is something that needs to be done for the sake of it, so it can only happen if it’s going to be good.”

– IGN

Strangely this is now the 5th live action movie/series being created from the Yakuza IP including a Yakuza 1 prequal, an adaptation of Yakuza by Takashi Miike, and 3 JDrama series based on Kurohyou and Yakuza 6. After the success of Sonic the Hedgehog it’s good to see SEGA getting actively involved in how their movie licenses are being handled. With any luck this could mean the best Video Game movie adaptation ever!