You ask me (which, by clicking on this article, you did), Yakuza 0 is one of the best games I ever played. It's so good—such a pitch-perfect blend of high drama and high camp, and with perhaps the most engrossing minigame known to man packed in—that I kind of struggle to pick up other Yakuza games. I feel like I've already spent 100+ hours with the best one.
If you're one of the unlucky few who's yet to pick the game up, you may want to get on that. Sega's announced that, when Yakuza 0's spruced-up Director's Cut releases on December 8, the original version's getting delisted.
So far, Sega's only said it's getting delisted on Steam, and I'm not sure if that will also apply to other storefronts. I've reached out to Sega to ask about this, and will update if I hear back.
You might think that's not such a big deal. After all, the Director's Cut will contain all the parts of the original game inside it like a beautiful criminal pupa, but the shift also entails a big change in the game's price. Right now, you can pick up original Yakuza 0 for a paltry $20. When it launches, the Director's Cut will set you back $50.
Sega even—a little cheekily, I think—notes that if you were to pick up Yakuza 0 for $20 now, you could go on to get the exclusive Director's Cut upgrade (available only to base-game owners) for $15 after it launches—in essence picking up the new version for $15 off its base price. "A significant savings," Sega calls it, like it's doing you a favour.
Anyway, the good news is that, if you already own the original Yakuza 0, it's not like Sega's gonna yank it out of your Steam library. You can keep playing that version in perpetuity. And if don't already have it? Well, then, conveniently enough GOG is currently offering the game on sale for $11 (£9), or 45% off. Could it have known this was coming? Well, yes. Almost certainly it did. Fair enough.
