Summary
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team behind the longstandingLike a Dragonfranchise, has expressed interest in remakingYakuza 3, the franchise’s third mainline entry that originally released in 2009. The studio had previously remade the first two games of Sega’s celebratedYakuzaseries,Yakuza KiwamiandYakuza Kiwami 2,in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Ever since, fans have been eager for confirmation of a potentialYakuza 3remake.
Most recently, Ryu Ga Gotoku has been busy releasing threeLike a Dragongames in the past year. Just over a year ago, it releasedLike a Dragon: Ishin, a remake of the original 2014 spinoff game that had previously only been available in Japan. Bridging Kazuma Kiryu’s gap fromYakuza 6: The Song of Lifeto 2020’sYakuza: Like a Dragon, RGG releasedLike a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Namelate last year in preparation forLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which launched in January. Touted as thelargest mainlineLike a Dragontitle in the franchise yet,Infinite Wealthis also considered one of the best with its stellar cast of characters, gripping narrative, and satisfying turn-based RPG combat.
In a recent livestream held by Ryu Ga Gotoku, Masayoshi Yokoyama, theseries director ofLike a Dragon, provided some updates on the exciting future of the franchise.Via Gematsu, he first revealed that the team is getting the ball rolling on the casting process for the next mainline game. He later mentioned that this next game won’t beYakuza Kiwami 3, but that the studio is still heavily considering remaking the third game, saying “I think we’ll doKiwami 3at some point, I think we’ll definitely do it sooner or later.”
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Is Considering Making Yakuza Kiwami 3
WithYakuza 3already having been remastered as recently as 2019 alongsideYakuza 4and5, it’ll be interesting to see whether Ryu Ga Gotoku is planning to give the franchise theResident Eviltreatmentof fully remaking all the early titles for modern fans.Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, the final entry in the proper Kiryu saga, was released in 2016 and has yet to receive any sort of remake or remaster treatment at all. Perhaps in time plans to do so will arise, especially if most of the Kiryu saga sees fullKiwamiremakes in the coming years. Recent years have seen RGG display its ability to work on several smaller titles alongside its big mainline games, so it may be possible for the studio to developYakuza Kiwami 3andLike a Dragon 9simultaneously.
I think we’ll do Kiwami 3 at some point, I think we’ll definitely do it sooner or later.
RGG doesn’t currently have any DLC planned for its most recent hit,Infinite Wealth. With that said, it’ll likely be several years before the studio is ready to reveal its next mainline title, as it’s only just begun the early casting process. However, there’s always the possibility ofsmaller-scale spinoffs such asLike a Dragon: Ishin,Gaiden,orJudgmentto be released in the meantime. As forYakuza Kiwami 3, fans will likely have to wait several more years for more concrete information.
Yakuza 3
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A year after the Kanto-Kansai all-out war, Kazuma Kiryu and Haruka Sawamura have left the unforgiving streets of Kamurocho for the island of Okinawa to run the Morning Glory Orphanage. Despite his efforts, shadows of Kiryu’s past threaten to entangle the Morning Glory Orphanage in a deadly power struggle involving the Tojo Clan and political world.Thus begins a dramatic tale set in the ““sleepless city”” of Kamurocho in Tokyo and the tropical lands of Okinawa. Can Kiryu rescue the children of the orphanage from the looming threats emerging from the depths of the underworld and state power?
