It's target market not being wide enough is exactly why it'll be DOA. Its target market is why the games get localized two years later, and only digitally.

Be proud of those alienating japanese voices though. Most people just LOVE reading subtitles.

Well, the target  market isn't going to suddenly expand because they add an English dub. People buy games for gameplay, not because it has English voice acting. Someone who will not buy Yakuza 5 at all because it has a JP dub only really wasn't interested in a game so engrossed in Japanese culture. Otherwise, Yakuza 1 wouldn't have flopped as bad as it did.

Still salty there's no physical release.

That's the most absurd thing I've read today. What if GTA3 was German with English subtitles? Would it's gameplay have been so good that it wouldn't have absolutely bombed anywhere else? I bet Naruto, DBZ, and Pokemon would still have been international mega sensations without their dubs. Let's not forget MGS, though. That franchise would absolutely still be relavant if the PS1 original only had Japanese VA, right?

Give me a break.

best ending with metal gear solid 3/5

I'm speaking specifically about Yakuza, not games that are targeted towards the mainstream. Even if you were to ask people why they liked the games you listed, voice acting would never be the top answer. 

Have you played a Yakuza title? A game set in Japan about Japanese organized crime in red light districts with idols, hostess clubs, pachinko machines, and crane games doesn't scream mainstream. The people interested in Yakuza aren't the people who are going to ignore it because doesn't have English voice acting. I'm not saying it shouldn't have dual audio, because that's ultimately the goal with all localizations. To make that the reason as to why it won't be successful is just silly. Sega goes this route because they spent the money on an English dub and it did terribly. Yakuza 3 and 4 both sold better than 1 without the dub.

A bad dub did terribly. A good dub wouldn't. It doesn't matter where it's set. There are tons of media here from Japan, set in Japan, that are widely successful here, and none of them are undubbed. None-of-them. It has nothing to do with being mainstream. It's everything to do with shooting yourself in the foot. Japanese VA is alienating to the majority of consumers who don't speak Japanese. And there's nothing "mainstream" about any of those franchises innately. But they were localized with dubs, and they did well because of it. None of them would have without it.

Well, alienating large potential markets would be bad if that would actually be the case for Yakuza. I'm quite thankful you're not handling this, because the series wouldn't have made it this far with you wanting to spend money on a good dub (which is the case for less than 10% of localized games?). Honestly, I think sales would suffer more if they decided to not include Japanese voice acting than excluding an English dub (as Koei Tecmo learned and apologized for with Atelier Ayesha).

I think you're out of touch with the people who are going to buy these games and naive enough to believe that things like an English dub is what's holding back the series from blockbuster success.

From my experience, no matter what country I have been in, and the ethnicity of the people, when it has come to anime, manga, Chinese films, Japanese films, etc people people prefer subtitles to dubbing. I wouldn't be surprised if this translates to video games too. Personally, I would rather play yakuza games in Japanese like I always have. It helps with the immersion of being in Japan and part of the world they have created in the game.

pretty cool this should be supported doesnt matter if its digital only