Yakuza Banned by Chinese Pirates
The Yakuza series has been banned by Chinese pirates and the blame allegedly lies with Taiwan, Kazuma Kiryu and a certain Japanese v-tuber.
IN A NUTSHELL:
- Downloading of game from the Yakuza series has been blocked on one of China's largest game pirate websites;
- The reason for this is a political one - the dispute over Taiwan;
- The story is confusing, but it involves former v-tuber Kiryu Coco and voice actor Takaya Kuroda.
Based on information from the ResetEra forum, TechRaptor stated that one of China's largest illegal game websites has banned the Yakuza series for political reasons.
It's not often that you hear that a website dealing with distribution of illegal content decides to block some of it of its own accord. And this is exactly what happened in this case. The reason for this is Taiwan, former Hololive Productions agency v-tuber Kiryu Coco and voice actor Takaya Kuroda, providing voice to one of the series' main characters, Kazuma Kiryu.
It all started with former v-tuber Kiryu Coco. During one of her streams, she shared statistics about her viewership in various countries, and Taiwan was among them. This caused quite a bit of criticism and dissatisfaction from some viewers as the Chinese government does not recognize its independence.
One of Kiryu Coco's favorite game series is Yakuza, which she often played during her streams. As the artist has decided to leave Hololive Productions and it is unknown what she will do next, Takaya Kuroda thanked her on Twitter for her support.
In the above message, the actor thanks the v-tuber for supporting Kazuma Kiryu and wishes her good luck on her farewell livestream.
In response to this tweet, one of the biggest Chinese websites providing illegal copies of games (we'll refrain from posting its name here, for obvious reasons) decided to block the possibility of downloading games from the Yakuza series on their servers.
Due to the language barrier, a 100% confirmation of the story is a bit difficult, but it seems that there is at least a grain of truth in it. While games from the series are still visible on the pirate website, the "download" button next to them is inactive. It appears that Takaya Kuroda has unwillingly discovered a new, and quite effective, anti-piracy security measure.
