During a recently held Yakuza event at the Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California, series producer Daisuke Sato spoke a little bit about the future of the franchise, and in addition to speaking about the currently in development code-named Shin Yakuza, as well as the possibility of a direct sequel to last year’s Yakuza 0.
Sato mentioned that Yakuza 0 is as well loved within the development team over at Sega as much as it is by the fans of the game, and as such, the team has often bounced around ideas of possibly making a Yakuza 0-2, a game that would be set between Yakuza 0 and the first game in the series. Such a project, though, is not in development right now, as per Sato, nor are there any plans to work on it in the near future.
What is being worked on right now is a game that has been given the code-name Shin Yakuza (which was already revealed in 2017), and Sato gave plenty of interesting details on that particular project. The game will take players to new locations and will be set after Yakuza 6, and might see the return of several characters from past games. Since Yakuza 6 was series protagonist Kiryu’s last game, though, Shin Yakuza will feature a new protagonist in Ichiban Kasuga.
Sato also went on to speak about how Kasuga will be different as a protagonist than Kiryu. For one, he will be a much more emotive and outspoken character than Kiryu was. Also, when Kasuga’s story begins, he will have no money, power, friends, or support, and the game will show how he rises from that.
It definitely sounds interesting, so here’s hoping Sega will announce some more concrete details on the game soon. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates.