The director of the acclaimed Like a Dragon franchise spoke to fans about the possibilities of Yakuza Kiwami 3, the remake of the third Yakuza title.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team behind the storied Like a Dragon franchise, has expressed interest in remaking Yakuza 3, the third mainline instalment in the franchise. The game was initially released in 2009. The studio previously remade the first two games in Sega’s celebrated Yakuza series, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2, in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Since then, fans have eagerly awaited confirmation of a possible Yakuza 3 remake.

Most recently, Ryu Ga Gotoku has been busy with three Like a Dragon games over the past year, all of which have proven to be very successful and popular titles.

In a recent livestream held by Ryu Ga Gotoku, Masayoshi Yokoyama, the director of the Like a Dragon series, provided some new information about the exciting future of the franchise. He first revealed via Gematsu that the team is already starting the casting process for the next mainline game. He later mentioned that this next game will not be Yakuza Kiwami 3, but the studio is still strongly considering a remake of the third game: “I think we’ll do Kiwami 3 at some point, I think we’ll definitely do it sooner or later.”

Like a Dragon developers are considering making Yakuza Kiwami 3

Yakuza 3 recently received a Remastered version in 2019. It will be interesting to see if Ryu Ga Gotoku plans to treat the franchise in the style of Resident Evil, i.e. completely remaking all the early titles for modern fans. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, the last part of the regular Kiryu saga, was released in 2016. The latter has yet to receive any kind of remake or remaster treatment. Perhaps there will be plans for this in time, especially if most of the Kiryu saga gets full Kiwami remakes in the coming years.

In recent years, RGG has shown that it can work on several smaller titles in addition to major mainline games, so the studio may be developing Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Like a Dragon 9 simultaneously.

RGG currently has no plans for DLC for its latest hit game, Infinite Wealth. With that said, it will likely be years before the studio is ready to reveal its next title. After all, they have only just started the early casting process. However, there is always the possibility of smaller-scale spinoffs. Such as Like a Dragon: Ishin, Gaiden, or Judgment, which will be released in the meantime. As for Yakuza Kiwami 3, fans will likely have to wait quite a few more years for more concrete information.

Source: Gematsu