Yakuza 6 logo
Yakuza 6
Is this where the lucky winners might work?

With Yakuza 6 (aka Ryū ga Gotoku 6) launching sometime in 2016 in Japan, Sega is getting everything perfect for launch, including the in game models for their famous hostesses. Much like previous promotions and competitions, the company is looking towards the real world for inspiration. 15 lucky participants that range from models to students to cosplayers are all vying to be immortalized in the Yakuza franchise.

Yakuza 6 hostesses
Remember, red for voting and grey for more info.

If you don’t speak Japanese the site might be difficult to navigate; anyone may vote on the competitor page by clicking the red bar under each woman’s photo. Apparently you can vote for 3 different candidates a day and the contest ends on April 17th. If you are curious (or love a challenge when it comes to language) you can check out the competitor’s official blogs and audition videos by clicking on the grey bar underneath their pictures. The purple ‘official blog’ button is in English but the audition one is the longer button underneath in Japanese.

While an English localization for Yakuza 6 has not been confirmed, Sega has been good about getting the other titles out… eventually. This contest might keep you invested while you wait for Yakuza 0 to come out in the West in early 2017. Here is one of the audition videos to help you along until next year.

Leif Conti-Groome
Leif Conti-Groome is a writer/playwright/video game journalist whose work has appeared on websites such as NextGen Player, Video Game Geek and DriveinTales. His poem Ritual won the 2015 Broadside Contest organized by the Bear Review. While he grew up playing titles such as Final Fantasy VI and Super Double Dragon, he doesn’t really have a preference for genre these days except for Country; that’s a game genre right? Leif’s attention has been more focused on the burgeoning communities of niche Japanese titles, eSports and speedruns. He currently resides in Toronto, Canada and makes a living as a copywriter.