Sega teases upcoming 'surprise announcement' for Yakuza series

Sega Japan has teased that it will be making a "surprise announcement" possibly tied to the Yakuza series on August 18, according to a report by Gematsu (via NeoGAF).

The news, which will coincide with the reveal of the Yakuza Character General Election results, will take place at the Alta Vision screen located outside the Shinjuku train station east entrance at 5pm local time.

No details have been given, leading to speculation from series devotees that the publisher may be set to announce a new Ryu ga Gotoku game (Yakuza 6) for either the PlayStation 3, upcoming PlayStation 4, or PS Vita. Earlier this year, Sega announced its plans to port the first and second Yakuza games to Nintendo's Wii U, for release in Japan.

There are currently no announced plans to localise Ryu ga Gotoku 5: Yume, Kanaeshi Mono (Yakuza 5) for Western audiences. The most recent game in the franchise to be released outside of the territory was 2012's Yakuza: Dead Souls, which received a lukewarm reception.

Yakuza producer Toshihiro Nagoshi has previously indicated an interest in bringing the franchise to Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld.