With Yakuza Kenzan! being out in Japan for almost a year and Yakuza 3 right around the bend, neither with an announced American release date, we got in touch with Sega about the future of the franchise abroad. The answer Sega gave us does not bode well, saying "We currently don't know what the future of the Yakuza franchise is for North America". The rep we talked to did say, optimistically, that he hoped the games would continue to be released in the US.