This Judgment Voice Actor’s Arrest Is Affecting Distribution of the Game
A 51-year-old Japanese voice actor for SEGA’s open-world game Judgment was reportedly arrested by Japanese police on Tuesday for using cocaine. The voice actor, Masanori Taki, voiced a character in the game named Kyohei Hamura (pictured below), a Yakuza gangster.
SEGA described Taki’s arrest as “highly regrettable” in a Wednesday statement and the company announced that it has temporarily halted shipping and digital sales of Judgment.
“Sega has received the arrest reports and are currently confirming the facts, but for the time being, we will voluntarily refrain from shipments and digital sales of [Judgment], as well as from things like posting the product’s homepage,” the company reportedly said. “We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause for customers, as well as the parties involved.”
Taki also voiced the Japanese version of the Frozen character Olaf and, presumably as a result of this recent arrest, has been replaced, according to a Disney statement released on Wednesday.
According to a Wall Street Journal tech reporter, SEGA is currently “discussing” how to approach the game’s upcoming June 25th release in the West and hasn’t decided what to do yet.
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