Sega is unable to reach an agreement with the talent agency.

If you found it weird and annoying that Judgment wasn't coming to PC, you certainly weren't alone. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2019 and came to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and even Stadia in April 2021. At the time, Sega said they had no plans for a PC release.

A little while later, Sega announced a sequel to Judgment called Lost Judgment. This too was also planned for most platforms but still excluded a PC release. It seemed really odd given how Sega recently released all of the previous mainline Yakuza titles on PC. They seemed to be really embracing the PC platform and the fans loved it. So, what is actually going on here?

As it turns out, it might be due to a dispute between Sega and Johnny's, a talent agency behind Takuya Kimura, the actor who portrays the main protagonist Takayuki Yagami.

According to Japanese outlet Nikkan Taishu (via Kotaku), if the two companies are unable to come to an agreement, there's no chance either Judgment game will come to PC. Not only that, but this could end up being the end of the series entirely after the upcoming release of Lost Judgment.

Johnny's reportedly has super strict policies when it comes to the talent they represent. They are very much against most things PC and Internet related. The talent agency sees the PC as problematic for their business model, even when it comes to the boy bands they manage. Johnny's has also refused photos from press conferences to be posted online and has prevented talent from even using social media. They seem to be incredibly ignorant of most everything related to PCs and the Internet. And you thought Nintendo was bad?

Now, I know what you're thinking here: How is Judgment allowed to be released on Stadia when you can very easily play the Stadia release through PC? Er, well you see, that's different? Honestly, it's not clear how or why the Stadia release of the first game was approved. Perhaps Johnny's just wasn't aware of what the service actually is.

So there you have it. An uptight, super behind-the-times Japanese talent agency is responsible for the lack of Judgment on the PC. I do hope that Sega keeps trying to work through this with Johnny's, but until Johnny's gets that stick out of their ass there probably isn't much hope of anything actually happening.