Yakuza franchise director Masayoshi Yokoyama praised Xbox Game Pass for helping to grow the franchise with Western audiences in a recent interview. The action-adventure franchise has grown into one of Sega's flagship titles since the first game released on the PS2 in 2005. While the games remained exclusive to Sony platforms for much of the series' early life, recent years have seen the Japanese gangster-inspired franchise become a multiplatform sensation. Now, Yokoyama has attributed some of its recent success to the games' appearance on Game Pass.
During a recent interview with Twinfinite, Masayoshi Yokoyama discussed the Yakuza franchise's success with Western audiences in recent years. While Yokoyama found it difficult to discern whether the success was related to the franchise going multiplatform or Yakuza: Like A Dragon's new protagonist, Yokoyama did feel Game Pass played a major part. Yokoyama praised subscription services, particularly mentioning Game Pass, as being an effective way to introduce players to the series, allowing them to play past games.
Yokoyama's credit to services like Game Pass would fit with the Yakuza games becoming a mainstay of various subscription services. The entirety of the Yakuza franchise has been a mainstay of Xbox Game Pass since the games were first introduced to the platform in 2020. The overhaul to PS Plus earlier this year has also featured multiple Yakuza games as part of its expansive game library. Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2 were added to PS Plus Extra's game catalog in August, with the other Yakuza games planned to come to PS Plus later this year.
The Yakuza franchise's rise in popularity in the West throughout recent years has even seen the franchise start to bring over previously Japan-exclusive games. Sega announced earlier this year that Yakuza spinoff Like A Dragon Ishin! would be receiving an international release, set to launch in February 2023. The prequel brings the action-adventure series into a different setting, swapping out the Yakuza franchise's typical gangster-themed stories for a historical setting based on Japan during the mid-1800s. The spinoff is also the first release from the franchise following its recent name change to Like a Dragon.
With the Yakuza franchise becoming more popular worldwide, many fans are looking to the future of Yakuza with several major releases on the horizon. Sega officially confirmed Like a Dragon 8 earlier this year as the first sequel to the franchise's soft reboot, with Yakuza: Like A Dragon protagonist Ichiban Kasuga set to star once again. However, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio also confirmed Kiryu fans would have something for them as well, with Like A Dragon Gaiden following Kiryu and bringing back the franchise's classic gameplay. The Yakuza franchise has experienced immense success in recent years and looks to maintain its strong position into the future.
Source: Twinfinite