Sega held on May 18 the second phase of the actress audition for the next PS4 Yakuza game. The selected actress will play one of the main characters in the game, who fights alongside protagonist Kasuga Ichiban. The second phase was held in Tokyo, at Sega's headquarters. Famitsu published a report of that lively day along with comments from the Producers.

The judges for this second phase of the audition were Yakuza Series Producers Daisuke Sato, Masayoshi Yokoyama, and Hiroyuki Sakamoto. Sega's chief creative officer Toshihiro Nagoshi also acted as an observer. Sega decided on the game's producers handling this phase, seeing the importance of the character played by the winner in the final game.

Over 1000 candidates participated in the first phase of the audition, and around 60 candidates were withheld for the second phase. This second phase had a much higher difficulty level. Seeing the selected actress will become one of the faces associated with new PS4 Yakuza, the audition also took into account each candidate's history and personality, along with their acting skills.

This second audition was made through group interviews. Groups of 3 to 5 candidates answered questions from the Producers. It included questions such as:

  • Why are you participating in the audition?
  • If you win the audition, how will you use the 1 million yen prize money?
  • Are you confident in your singing skills?
  • What kind of female character would you like to act?

Nearly all the candidates in the second phase already had solid experience in acting, making the choice extremely difficult. In the end, around ten candidates passed to the third phase, which will be held sometime in June. The third phase will have a huge focus on acting skills.

The Producers and Toshihiro Nagoshi held a small press conference once the audition was over.

They mentioned again how the winner actress will voice and act a character modeled after her in the game. They also stressed out how they didn't judge solely from physical appearance, as the actress will need to blend in with the other characters.

The producers were also asked if they already decided on the character's personality, or if the actress' personality will affect her. They answered that they can't say anything yet, but that we can rest assured and that "everything will turn out perfectly".

As for why they asked about singing skills, the producers mentioned that being able to sing is far from being essential. However, they asked that as they might include a karaoke mini-game in this new PS4 Yakuza. Nothing is certain yet, but they'd like to include many elements like these from past Yakuza games. That's all.

Yakuza games are slowly being remade or remastered by Sega. The remakes Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 are available. Yakuza 3 to 5 are getting PS4 remasters in Japan which should all be available in the west soon. The latest one, Yakuza 5 Remaster, is releasing in Japan on PS4 on June 20, 2019.

This new PS4 Yakuza game might be coming before March 2020. One thing for sure though, is that we'll get more information in July, as the final phase of the actress audition and the winner will be announced then.