A Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio TV episode gave fans details on the next Like a Dragon game and whether it’ll be Yakuza Kiwami 3.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has been seeing strong commercial success since the release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon and the latest mainline entry, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, has also smitten gamers around the globe. Fans eagerly anticipate what’s in store for the series and the April 1, 2023 episode of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio TV, the web series where the studio makes announcements, hinted at what’s next.
In addition to hinting at the next Like a Dragon game, the episode also informed fans whether the studio will resume remaking its backlog of original mainline titles. With Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2 both being successes, the next logical step in the series’ remake agenda would be to give Yakuza 3 the remake treatment.
Will there be a Yakuza Kiwami 3?
Like a Dragon series director Masayoshi Yokoyama stated that Yakuza Kiwami 3 will come out “sooner or later” but that it isn’t a priority for the studio at this time.
Yakuza Kiwami, the original Yakuza game’s remake, came out in 2016 and Yakuza Kiwami 2 quickly followed suit in 2017. However, RGG Studio stopped remaking the original games and instead opted to work on new mainline entries and spinoffs, leaving Yakuza 3 without a remake.
The news of Yakuza Kiwami 3 being on the table suggests that Yakuza 4 and 5 may also get remakes of their own, since every mainline entry starting from Yakuza 6 uses the polished Dragon Engine. 2015’s Yakuza 0, which takes place chronologically before Yakuza 1, also uses the old engine.
All three games are part of The Yakuza Remastered Collection, but they lack many of the trimmings of modern Like a Dragon games. Yakuza 3 and 4 use an older game engine that was first used in 2008. Yakuza 3 is regarded by many as the worst mainline game in the Like a Dragon series and would benefit from a remake much more than its successors due to its isolated story and stiffer combat.
Is the next Like a Dragon game in development?
RGG Studio is working on a new project that may be the next Like a Dragon game but few details have been given on it thus far.
The primary goal of the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio TV episode was to announce that RGG Studio will be holding the casting auditions for a new game. Besides confirmation that the next game isn’t Yakuza Kiwami 3 and that it will have auditions, the team didn’t give fans any more information.
The game could hypothetically be a new mainline Like a Dragon game or the series could get another spinoff like Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name or Ishin. Since Infinite Wealth was so large in scale, it might make sense for the studio to focus on a smaller release next, especially since there has been a four-year gap between every mainline game since Yakuza 6.