Yakuza 3 Moves 300,000 Copies During Launch Week

Kris Erickson • Mar 3, 2009 • Comments ()

To say that Sega's ultra violent urban crime game Yakuza 3 was highly anticipated in Japan would be a bit of an understatement. The previous two games proved so successful on the Playstation 2 that the franchise has accumulated a healthy following in that country. Healthy enough that on the very first week of the game's release, it managed to sell in excess of 300,000 copies. For the sake of comparison, this makes Yakuza 3 the second-fastest-selling PS3 game of all time in Japan, trailing only MGS4 which managed to sell 465,000 copies in its first week.

Sega executives must be pleased that the game has performed so well, and we hope that their confidence inspires them to release the game over here in the West, where the Yakuza series has gathered a slightly smaller but just as enthusiastic fan base. The latest installment in the series was so important to the Japanese market that Sony and Sega even issued a special edition white PS3 to commemorate the game's launch.

Sega has said that it will support the game over the next two months with free downloadable items, missions, and themes. You can check out a gameplay video which shows some of the more violent fighting moves available in the game by clicking here.