Speaking during an interview with Automaton, Ryu Ga Gototku Studio‘s Ryosuke Horii has revealed that the studio doesn’t plan to stop making games about middle aged men doing “middle aged men things.”
While grateful for the influx of new fans that the series has seen over the years, the developer isn’t planning to change how it approaches the franchise.
We have had a large increase in new fans, including women, which we’re truly happy and grateful for. However, we don’t plan to do anything like deliberately changing conversation topics in order to cater to new fans.
We are middle aged guys ourselves, so I guess that’s the kind of target audience we’re going for, probably. I think this is precisely one of [the series’] selling points. In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, everything starts with three unemployed middle aged guys being like, ‘Let’s go to [the job centre].’ They have a different air about them than a group of young heroes would, complaining about back pain and the like. But this humanity you feel from their age is what gives the game originality.
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The characters are flesh and blood human beings much like our players are, so their problems are relatable. That’s why it’s easy to really get into the game and feel like you’re listening to conversations between ordinary people. There isn’t any typical ‘game-like’ language like ‘where is the treasure chest?’
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio recently said that its next title will ‘surprise’ fans, although it isn’t yet known if this a new Like A Dragon game or something new altogether. We won’t have to wait long however, as it’s due to be announced on September 20.
[Source – Automaton]