Next Yakuza Game Is Currently In Development

The Yakuza series director Toshihiro Nagoshi confirmed that his team is already working on the next entry while being interviewed at the Famitsu Awards 2016 event. Despite no revealing enough details to deduce whether the title is a direct sequel, prequel, or a spin off, Nagoshi did say they want to open a new chapter in the series after closing the storyline of Kazuma Kiryu in Yakuza 6.

Nagoshi assisted the event to pick up the Excellence Award given by the Japanese magazine Famitsu, in representation of the development team of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. The editor-in-chief of the publication, Katsuhiko Hayashi, asked him about the future of the series, to which Nagoshi replied with several statements about his plans.

First of all, Nagoshi made clear that his team was going to stay true to their decision of making Yakuza 6 the “final chapter” for former series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, which in turn opens a new world of possibilities for the games. He then stated that he wants to rebuild the series as a “new Yakuza,” a transformation plan that could expand through multiple titles in the future.

Nagoshi also talked about the Dragon Engine, which was created for Yakuza 6, but will still be used for the developments of the upcoming titles in the future. While they have had some experience with the engine already, he doesn’t think they will perfect its use until they have developed a second or even third game with it.

Finally, Nagoshi stated that we will actually get some news about the new title in the series at a relatively early stage, which probably points to an announcement before the year’s end.

Yakuza is an action-adventure game series which puts the player in control of a member of the Japanese mafia in an open-world setting. It sets itself apart from other productions by having a strong focus on the story, and offering a varied and addictive gameplay.

The company Sega is currently focused on reintroducing the series to Western audiences, first with the release of the excellent prequel Yakuza 0 earlier in the year, and the PS4 remake of the first entry this summer.