Sega’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, the key person behind theYakuzaseries, mentioned how digital sales of pastYakuza Kiwamigames have increased lately in Japan, meaning many of the newcomers attracted byYakuza: Like a Dragonand its RPG battle system decided to try the previous games.Toshihiro Nagoshi chatted about all that on the March 24 SegaNama stream, at around the 1:22:00 mark. He also mentionedYakuza: Like a Dragonhas the highest digital sales of the series, and how the game managed to grasp a new audience. Toshihiro Nagoshi shared similar comments a few weeks ago on another SegaNama, where hediscussedYakuza: Like a DragonandSakura Wars' sales in Japan,Near the end of the same stream, Toshihiro Nagoshi was also asked by a fan: “Are there any characters inYakuzayou didn’t expect to become popular? Did theYakuzafandom ever react to a certain character in a different way than your expectations?“Nagoshi answered by explaining how Goro Majima is a very eccentric character so he never imagined he’d be this popular. In turn, because of his eccentricity, he did expect a reverse effect, with players liking him, but he’s surprised theYakuzafandom loves Majima that much, and he’s really happy about it.Nagoshi also explained making good, lovable characters is really difficult. If you try too much to make a character loved, it’ll have the opposite effect, so they never aimed at trying to make Majima this popular at the beginning.Toshihiro Nagoshi also mentioned how manyYakuza: Like a Dragonplayers loved all of its characters, but how in the end, it’s all about making a good game, so then your characters are more easily liked. Many personalities already calledRyu Ga Gotoku 7a masterpiece, includingFairy Tail’s Hiro Mashima.All of this is pretty promising for the future of theYakuzaseries.Producer Masayoshi Yokoyamarecently shared some comments on future games. Toshihiro Nagoshi did too inother interviews we translated. If you’d like to get into theYakuzaseries yourself, be sure to check outour startup guide.
SegaNama are monthly streams featuring Sega’s Chief Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi and MC Ayana Tsubaki. We’ve been covering these regularly on DualShockers. This month’s stream is included below.
Yakuza: Like a Dragonis already available since January 16 in Japan under the nameRyu Ga Gotoku 7 Hikari to Yami no Yukue. The PS4 exclusive is coming later in 2020 in the west.It’ll soon get a huge DLC in Japan,virtually free for a limited time.
