The next Yakuza game is about series wild card Goro Majima fighting pirates and is called Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sega revealed at the September 2024 RGG Summit.
The game will seemingly see Majima hunt down a lost treasure and perhaps even features ship combat in a half Yakuza, half Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag looking entry. It launches February 28, 2025..
A lengthy reveal trailer showed Majima washed up on the beach of Rich Island, near Hawaii, looking worse for wear and helped by a child with a pet tiger. Majima introduced the clip himself as a story taking place six months prior, asking how the heck he ended up on a beach.
It looks to directly feed off the story of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, with Majima dealing with repercussions caused by Ichiban Kasuga’s involvement with the cult of Palekana on Nele Island. The trailer also showed Majima becoming a pirate captain himself.
Gameplay released showed Majima fighting on the main Hawaii map from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth alongside on ships and other new areas. Majima can fight in either the Mad Dog Style or the Sea Dog Style, and players can jump for the first time in the Yakuza series.
Yakuza fans have been awaiting this game’s reveal for what feels like a long time. Even though the last mainline game, the colossal Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, arrived as the last mainline entry in January, RGG Studio has become known for its rapid releases.
In the last five years, for example, it released Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Judgment Remastered, Lost Judgment, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, and Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, alongside three Super Monkey Ball Games and an enhanced remaster of Virtua Fighter 5. That’s 12 games in total.
Fans have been trying to figure out what this new entry would be since Sega announced the RGG Summit in August, whether it would be the next mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon entry, another spin-off game like Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, another remake like Yakuza: Kiwami or Like a Dragon: Ishin, another game from spin-off series Judgment, or something else entirely.
In our 9/10 review of the last game, IGN said: “Sprawling, enthralling, and packed with dynamic brawling, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth isn’t just the best turn-based Like a Dragon game, it’s one of the greatest games in the entire series.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.