Sega pulls ‘Yakuza 6’ demo after players use it to access the full game

Sega’s Yakuza series is all about the criminal underworld, but the publisher likely didn’t expect its own players to bamboozle the company before the game was even released. Though the demo for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life had been available on the PlayStation Store, it has been pulled after players managed to use it to access the full game.

“We apologize, but [we] have had to remove the Yakuza 6: The Song of Life demo from the PlayStation Store,” Sega said on Twitter. “We are as upset as you are, and had hoped to have this demo available to everyone today.”

The issue seems to have arisen from Sega’s decision to include the full Yakuza 6 game download as part of the demo. Only the first few sections were supposed to be unlocked, but the remainder of the game was technically still there. An unlock code requirement was supposed to keep players from progressing further, but some found they had access to the entire game instead, as well as to all trophies.

Yakuza 6 was originally scheduled to release on March 20 in North America, but the game was delayed earlier this month until April 17. The demo was released in part to soften the blow of the delay, with players able to carry any progress they had made into the full version of the game … Sega just hadn’t planned on them being able to do it immediately. It has already been out in Japan for more than a year.

While you wait for the latest sequel to finally launch (on purpose), you might want to check out Yakuza 0. The prequel follows protagonist Kazuma Kiryu well before the events of the original Yakuza, but it still contains the open-world action and downright bizarre characters that fans of the series have come to expect. It’s available on PlayStation 4, as well as PlayStation 3 in Japan. A remake of the original game, Yakuza Kiwami, was released for PlayStation 4 last August, as well. The remake received good reviews from critics as well as players, with the strong narrative and side activities given particular praise.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life launches exclusively for PlayStation 4 on April 17.