2020 was a major year for the Yakuza franchise. While the series started gaining western popularity with Yakuza 0 in 2017, 2020 proved to be the most important year for certifying the popularity for Sega's franchise. This helped lead to Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 joining Xbox platforms through Xbox Game Pass, making the series' entry points easily accessible to players across PlayStation, PC, and Xbox for the first time ever.
Most importantly though, 2020 marked the biggest transition in the series' 15 year history with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Not only did it introduce a brand new cast of characters including the new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, but it also shifted the series' entire genre from third-person action to turn-based RPG, inspired by the likes of Dragon Quest and Persona. Better yet, Like a Dragon has seen huge western success, coming away with many awards. With all this in mind, it's time to look ahead to 2021 for the Yakuza franchise as, while 2020 was likely the most important year in the franchise's history, 2021 is looking to keep up that momentum coming off of the success of the Game Pass releases and Like a Dragon.
The Dragon Of Game Pass
Yakuza made its Game Pass debut in February 2020 with Yakuza 0's launch on Microsoft's booming subscription service. This also marked Yakuza's debut on Xbox consoles, which would later lead to Yakuza: Like a Dragon's next-gen Xbox Series X/S version becoming a timed-exclusive, an unprecedented move for the series.
Thanks to Xbox Game Pass, the Yakuza series has managed to reach new heights of popularity, which itself means big things for the franchise. As revealed at The Game Awards 2020, Sega is already on top of bringing the rest of the Yakuza games to Xbox and PC Game Pass. The Yakuza Remastered Collection is coming to Xbox Game Pass on January 28th, 2021, and includes Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4, and Yakuza 5, all remastered at 1080p/60 frames-per-second (although PC players will likely be able to bring these numbers higher.)
Following this, the final entry in Kazuma Kiryu's saga, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, will release on Xbox Game Pass for PC and Xbox on March 25th, 2021. With this, all of the main entries in the Yakuza series will be available on PC and Xbox, as well as PlayStation 4.
The Missing Pieces
While fans of the series on Xbox and PC will likely still be playing catch-up for a majority of 2021, there are some possibilities for what Sega for fans caught up with the series. Mainly, there are some titles that have not received the remaster treatment or even ever been localized at all, namely Yakuza: Dead Souls, Yakuza: Kenzan, and Yakuza Ishin. For the uninitiated, Yakuza: Dead Souls is a third-person shooter spin-off for the series that sees the characters fighting off a zombie apocalypse. The game is obviously non-canon and was released on PlayStation 3 in 2011 in Japan and 2012 for the rest of the world. While not the most beloved entry in the series, Dead Souls sold reasonably successfully at the time and would benefit from a remaster to clear up the game's frame-rate issues.
Yakuza: Kenzan and Yakuza: Ishin are among the most requested localizations of all time. These two games are based in the 1500s and 1800s, respectively, and feature characters from the Yakuza series portraying legendary samurai such as Miyamoto Musashi and Sakamoto Ryoma. Yakuza: Kenzan first released on PlayStation 3 in March 2008 and Yakuza: Ishin released on PlayStation 3 and as a PlayStation 4 launch title in November 2013. Both games received major critical acclaim from Japanese reviewers; however, they never saw western releases due to Sega fearing fans would not be interested in the historical settings
The release of Yakuza Remastered Collection raised the possibility of Sega localizing these titles, however, as a survey accompanying the game's release asked if fans would be interested in seeing these titles release in western territories. As games like Ghost of Tsushima and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice have proven, samurai games have been received very positively in western territories. As such and with no major Yakuza titles slated to release in 2021 yet, Sega could be preparing to fill that gap with remasters of Yakuza Kenzan and Ishin, and maybe even Yakuza: Dead Souls.
Yakuza 8 - 2021 or 2022?
Aside from these remasters, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios has already confirmed that the next main installment of the Yakuza series is in development and is likely to star Ichiban Kasuga. While no details have been released, given that the title has not seen any sort of major reveal yet means that RGG Studios is likely taking its time with this next installment. This doesn't rule out it being slated to be release at the end of 2021 or beginning of 2022, though.
It might be fair not to expect Yakuza 8 in 2021, but it's understandable hope. Reason being, Yakuza 7 broke series tradition of yearly Japanese releases with its release in January 2019, meaning 2018 saw no major Yakuza titles (not counting Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, which was developed by RGG Studio.) Given that RGG Studio is hard at work on the next main entry in the Yakuza series, it seems unlikely that another spin-off such as Judgment or Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise will release before the next mainline entry, especially with the momentum the series has gained.
With the remaining entries slated to come to Xbox Game Pass within the first quarter of the year, Yakuza: Like a Dragon set to release on PlayStation 5 in March, and the possibilities of Yakuza: Kenzan and Ishin finally making their way to western territories in 2021, the Yakuza series is set up to keep the momentum gained in 2020.