Sega America’s Ray Almeda seems to have dashed the hopes of at least 40, 000 North American gamers, today. In a conversation with The Examiner, Ray bluntly announced that Yakuza 3 will not be crossing the pond. The response was simple enough: No Yakuza 3. It’s the explanation that really surprised me. Apparently, the second Yakuza game just didn’t sell well enough for Sega to really justify bringing the sequel here. The second game, released for the Playstation 2 not long ago in North America, only sold around 40, 000 copies. Considering how we felt about the game, it’s definitely a disappointment to us ( check the review here ) Now, just as an aside, the first game seemed to have a huge backing behind it, when it debuted in North America. Sega went out of its way to grab top tier talent for voice-acting, and they localized the game so that North American gamers got it. You’ll note that the second was a straight port. No english voice-acting (for which I’m quite thankful for, actually), no fan-fare to announce its arrival, and it was released after the PS3 had hit. Ever wonder why it didn’t sell? Here’s hoping they may eventually change their minds. We’re just not holding our collective breaths.