Launching on January 18th, 2020, in Japan, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the latest entry to the Yakuza series. With some pretty massive changes to the series’ normal genre (going for turn-based combat instead of third-person brawler combat), all eyes were on the newest game to see how it would perform with said changes. Change seems to be a good thing, though. Yakuza: Like a Dragon has shipped 300,000 copies since its Japanese release, according to Executive Director Toshihiro Nagoshi, who announced the news on the Sega Nama Livestream. While he wasn’t specific on Sega’s projections for the title, he did say that he was quite happy with the sales. He also took a moment to apologize for the shortages of the game in retail.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the eighth mainline entry to the series, if you include the prequel, Yakuza 0. Unlike the last seven games, Yakuza: Like a Dragon isn’t a beat ’em up, changing the formula in a major way. The game instead finds its combat rooted in turn-based RPGs and features an all-new protagonist who finds that his family has betrayed him after an 18 year trip to prison.
While the game is selling well in Japan, we still don’t know exactly when it will be coming West. We do know it’s set for a vague “second half of 2020” goal, but that’s about it. In the meantime, remasters of Yakuza 3 and 4 were recently released for PlayStation 4, and a remaster of Yakuza 5 is set to launch on February 11th, 2020. There are also several other Yakuza games available in the West, such as Yakuza Kiwami, a remake of the original game. There’s also the spin-off Judgment, which puts you on the other side of the law for once. The entire Yakuza series’ soundtracks are also now available on Spotify.
[Source: Twinfinite]