Summary
- Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is considering remaking Yakuza 3, sparking excitement among fans eager for more remakes in the franchise.
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the latest game from RGG, has been praised for its characters, story, and RPG combat mechanics.
- While a Yakuza Kiwami 3 isn't in its immediate plans, RGG is open to the idea and may develop it alongside future mainline titles.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team behind the longstanding Like a Dragon franchise, has expressed interest in remaking Yakuza 3, the franchise's third mainline entry that originally released in 2009. The studio had previously remade the first two games of Sega's celebrated Yakuza series, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2, in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Ever since, fans have been eager for confirmation of a potential Yakuza 3 remake.
Most recently, Ryu Ga Gotoku has been busy releasing three Like a Dragon games in the past year. Just over a year ago, it released Like a Dragon: Ishin, a remake of the original 2014 spinoff game that had previously only been available in Japan. Bridging Kazuma Kiryu's gap from Yakuza 6: The Song of Life to 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon, RGG released Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name late last year in preparation for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which launched in January. Touted as the largest mainline Like a Dragon title in the franchise yet, Infinite Wealth is 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, the series director of Like 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 be Yakuza Kiwami 3, but that the studio is still heavily considering remaking the third game, saying "I think we'll do Kiwami 3 at some point, I think we'll definitely do it sooner or later."
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Is Considering Making Yakuza Kiwami 3
With Yakuza 3 already having been remastered as recently as 2019 alongside Yakuza 4 and 5, it'll be interesting to see whether Ryu Ga Gotoku is planning to give the franchise the Resident Evil treatment of 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 full Kiwami remakes 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 develop Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Like a Dragon 9 simultaneously.
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 of smaller-scale spinoffs such as Like a Dragon: Ishin, Gaiden, or Judgment to be released in the meantime. As for Yakuza Kiwami 3, fans will likely have to wait several more years for more concrete information.
Yakuza 3
- Released
- March 9, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
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?
