The Yakuza series is turning 15 this year, and if a new game wasn’t enough, developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is holding a special livestream to mark the occasion in December. Part of the stream will be what’s in store for the future of the open-world games.
The birthday celebration was announced on Twitter by the studio, and it’ll feature a retrospective on 15 years of the crime games and announce “future developments” (translated via Google Translate). Two of the recurring voice actors will take part, Takaya Kuroda, the voice of Kiryu Kasama, who led the first six games, and Kazuhiro Nakaya, who voiced Akira Nishikiyama in Yakuza, Yakuza 0, and Yakuza Kiwami, and Ichiban Kasuga, the protagonist of Yakuza: Like A Dragon. The stream will be viewable live on Youtube, through this link, on December 8 at 03:00 PST / 06:00 EST / 11:00 GMT.
There’s all sorts of predictions and hopes for what might be announced. Perhaps the most sought after is Yakuza 3 through Yakuza 6 on PC, bringing the bulk of the mainline games to Steam. Another possible option is a preliminary announcement of the next direct sequel, Yakuza: Like A Dragon 2, continuing Ichiban Kasuga’s story as started in Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
Our Ian Boudreau was fond of Like A Dragon, to say the least, calling it “one of this year’s must-play games” in his review. He most certainly wasn’t alone, either.
【『龍が如く』15周年 記念特番配信決定】
12月8日（火）20時より
龍が如く15周年を記念した生放送番組を配信決定！ゲストに黒田崇矢さん、中谷一博さんをお迎えし、
15年の歴史を振り返ると共に、今後の展開を発表いたします！視聴URLはこちらhttps://t.co/LuDiquRGkb#龍が如く pic.twitter.com/czdiVCL0RK
— 龍が如くスタジオ 公式 (@ryugagotoku) November 20, 2020
A longtime producer on the Yakuza games recently said he’d like to make a Sonic game. Doubtful we’ll hear anything about that here, but stranger things have happened.