2020 was a major year for theYakuzafranchise. While the series started gaining western popularity withYakuza 0in 2017, 2020 proved to be the most important year for certifying the popularity for Sega’s franchise. This helped lead toYakuza 0,Yakuza Kiwami, andYakuza Kiwami 2joining Xbox platforms through Xbox Game Pass, making the series' entry points easily accessible to players across PlayStation, PC, and Xbox for the first time ever.
Most importantly though, 2020 marked the biggest transition in the series' 15 year history withYakuza: Like a Dragon.Not only did it introduce a brand new cast of charactersincluding the new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, but it also shifted the series' entire genre from third-person action to turn-based RPG, inspired by the likes ofDragon QuestandPersona. Better yet,Like a Dragonhas seen huge western success, coming away with many awards. With all this in mind, it’s time to look ahead to 2021 for theYakuzafranchise as, while 2020 was likely the most important year in the franchise’s history, 2021 is looking to keep up that momentum coming off of the success of the Game Pass releases andLike a Dragon.
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The Dragon Of Game Pass
Yakuzamade its Game Pass debut in February 2020 withYakuza 0’s launch on Microsoft’s booming subscription service. This also markedYakuza’s debut on Xbox consoles, which would later lead toYakuza:Like a Dragon’s next-gen Xbox Series X/Sversion becoming a timed-exclusive, an unprecedented move for the series.
Thanks to Xbox Game Pass, theYakuzaseries has managed to reach new heights of popularity, which itself means big things for the franchise. As revealed at The Game Awards 2020, Sega is already on top of bringing the rest of theYakuzagames to Xbox and PC Game Pass. TheYakuza Remastered Collectionis coming to Xbox Game Pass on January 28th, 2021, and includesYakuza 3,Yakuza 4, andYakuza 5, all remastered at 1080p/60 frames-per-second (although PC players will likely be able to bring these numbers higher.)
Following this, the final entry in Kazuma Kiryu’s saga,Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, will release on Xbox Game Passfor PC and Xbox on March 25th, 2021. With this, all of the main entries in theYakuzaseries will be available on PC and Xbox, as well as PlayStation 4.
The Missing Pieces
While fans of the series on Xbox and PC will likely still be playing catch-up for a majority of 2021, there are some possibilities for what Sega for fans caught up with the series. Mainly, there are some titles that have not received the remaster treatment or even ever been localized at all, namelyYakuza: Dead Souls,Yakuza: Kenzan, andYakuza Ishin. For the uninitiated,Yakuza: Dead Soulsis a third-person shooter spin-off for the series that sees the characters fighting off a zombie apocalypse. The game is obviously non-canon and was released on PlayStation 3 in 2011 in Japan and 2012 for the rest of the world. While not the most beloved entry in the series,Dead Soulssold reasonably successfully at the time and would benefit from a remaster to clear up the game’s frame-rate issues.
Yakuza: KenzanandYakuza: Ishinareamong the most requested localizations of all time. These two games are based in the 1500s and 1800s, respectively, and feature characters from theYakuzaseries portraying legendary samurai such as Miyamoto Musashi and Sakamoto Ryoma.Yakuza: Kenzanfirst released on PlayStation 3 in March 2008 andYakuza: Ishinreleased on PlayStation 3 and as a PlayStation 4 launch title in November 2013. Both games received major critical acclaim from Japanese reviewers; however, they never saw western releases due to Sega fearing fans would not be interested in the historical settings
The release ofYakuza Remastered Collectionraised the possibility of Sega localizing these titles, however, as a survey accompanying the game’s release asked if fans would be interested in seeing these titles release in western territories. As gameslikeGhost of TsushimaandSekiro: Shadows Die Twicehave proven, samurai games have been received very positively in western territories. As such and with no majorYakuzatitles slated to release in 2021 yet, Sega could be preparing to fill that gap with remasters ofYakuza KenzanandIshin, and maybe evenYakuza: Dead Souls.
Yakuza 8 - 2021 or 2022?
Aside from these remasters, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios has already confirmed that the next main installment of theYakuzaseries is in development and is likely to star Ichiban Kasuga. While no details have been released, given that the title has not seen any sort of major reveal yet means that RGG Studios is likely taking its time with this next installment. This doesn’t rule out it being slated to be release at the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022, though.
It might be fair not to expectYakuza 8in 2021, but it’s understandable hope. Reason being,Yakuza 7broke series tradition of yearly Japanese releases with its release in January 2019, meaning 2018 saw no majorYakuzatitles (not countingFist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, which was developed by RGG Studio.) Given that RGG Studio is hard at work on thenext main entry in theYakuzaseries, it seems unlikely that another spin-off such asJudgmentorFist of the North Star: Lost Paradisewill release before the next mainline entry, especially with the momentum the series has gained.
With the remaining entries slated to come to Xbox Game Pass within the first quarter of the year,Yakuza: Like a Dragonset to release on PlayStation 5 in March, and the possibilities ofYakuza: KenzanandIshinfinally making their way to western territories in 2021, theYakuzaseries is set up to keep the momentum gained in 2020.
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