Yakuza series' GOG release removed credits for PC port devs and series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi

The entire Yakuza series was recently released on DRM-free PC games retailer GOG, but it seems a number of devs have been removed from the credits.

Generally games releasing DRM-free is quite a good thing, as it means you own the game without needing to worry about having a store client to run it. Recently, Yakuza 0 through 6 was released on GOG, a site where all games are DRM-free, with the entire series receiving a steep discount too. It's a great deal, honestly, but it does come with one caveat - as spotted by Reddit user Timo653 on the Yakuza subreddit, both Lab42 and QLOC were removed from the credits. On top of that, series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Daisuke Sato have also been removed from the credits, as well as a number of others.

The two developers had been responsible for handling the PC ports for all of the games (Lab42 porting Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1, QLOC porting Kiwami 2 to Yakuza 6). So it's obviously quite strange that they would both be removed from the credits considering they are the reason the games are even on PC in the first place.

It's also obviously equally dodgy that the creator of the series Nagoshi, as well as one of the lead producers, Sato, have been removed. Back in October 2021, Nagoshi announced he was leaving Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to form his own team, Nagoshi Studio, and Sato left with him to help start the new studio.

What isn't clear is if this was a purposeful omission from RGG or not, though it would be a bit needlessly malicious, especially as it wouldn't even be able to sell these games on GOG without Lab42 or QLOC. Let's hope everyone is properly credited with the release of Like a Dragon: Gaiden later this year.