You think so? I think it might do the opposite.
“Sony’s closing their own studio and funding other games” would probably be the flavour of outrage for every comments section.
But more importantly, this is surprisingly one of those situations where I can weigh in with a personal anecdote. In my deeply unconventional life, I’ve met a grand total of two people that are Yakuza in my life (well…*were* is more accurate), both times in Shinjuku during different visits and eight years apart. They’re fascinating people, and I remember something from them that might be relevant here: they’re a bit thin-skinned. Not on a personal level, but flying too close to the organized crime sun gets a response. They don’t really hide their existence, but they do engage in some reputation laundering to appear more innocuous than they are. My guess? There has been some pressure to kill this project. Like a Dragon doesn’t take itself seriously and it makes them look fun. GOD looks to be a bit more…accurate, and I suspect it flies too close to the organized crime sun I’m talking about.
Sony, still being a longstanding Japanese corporation, probably has a lot of cultural cache. And if Nagoshi goes to Sony, I suspect they’ll either say no upfront or would be talked into pulling support before long (which would do even more damage).
It’s a shame because the game looks interesting, but this kind of thing comes with precedent. I would compare it to The Last Temptation of Christ ,or even Sony’s own experience with The Interview.
