As expected, the Judgment character Kyohei Hamura has gotten a new character model following the arrest of his original actor.

We had previously learned that this change would not delay the western release, as it’s still set for June 25. Now they’ve officially revealed the new Hamura.

As you might guess from his similarities to the original Hamura, they didn’t model him after his new Japanese voice actor. Instead, they made an original character model. They still had to replace him in all the pre-rendered cutscenes and other spots where his face showed up, and of course re-record his Japanese dialogue, but his movements and lip-sync remained the same (which probably helps explain why they didn’t have to delay it).

A new short trailer introduces Hamura.

While that trailer has English voice acting, Judgment will have dual audio, as well as dual subtitles to match.

How do you feel about the new character model for Hamura?

(I wanted to blog about Capcom potentially teasing a Resident Evil 3 remake, but after looking through their tweets, it seems more like they’re just tweeting about various games in the series.)

Judgment is one of the upcoming games I’m looking forward to the most, so seeing bad news about it is definitely concerning.

In Japan, Sega halted all shipments and digital sales of the game after actor Pierre Taki was arrested for drug use.

He provides the voice and face of Kyohei Hamura in Judgment, captain of the Matsugane Family of the Tojo Clan. There was a similar situation when Yakuza 4 was remastered for the PS4, where a character was recast (and remodeled) after the original voice actor retired after allegations of drug use.

Drug scandals seem to be a major deal in Japan.

In addition to halting sales, Sega’s Japanese Twitter account also deleted its tweets related to the game. So, what does mean for the western release of Judgment?

A reporter for the Wall Street Journal stated that Sega is “discussing what to do” about the western release, and that’s all we know so far. Considering what they did with Yakuza 4, recasting the character seems like their most likely move.

It’s also quite possible that Judgment will launch in the west without dual audio, since a new Japanese voice actor for Hamura would have to be called in to redo his lines. Either way, since the model was also based on him, it might mean Judgment will be delayed.

I’m really looking forward to Judgment, so I hope this doesn’t impact its western release too much. (And I hope sales in other regions resume sooner rather than later.) What do you think will happen?