Masayoshi Yokoyama of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has revealed that the upcoming Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii was originally conceived as a Kazuma Kiryu-fronted game titled Like A Dragon: Tuna, and had the former Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan starring as a fisherman.
Speaking on the PlayStation Blog, Yokoyama-san revealed that RGG Studio had other ideas in store for its spin-off title ahead of the release of Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth.
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Around June or July 2023, long before the release of Infinite Wealth, the dev team was already mulling over the idea of an Infinite Wealth spin-off. Even if we were to make Like a Dragon 9, we knew that wouldn’t be enough to capture and tell the story. During the end of the Infinite Wealth development, we began percolating the idea of a spin-off that stars characters who are not Ichiban Kasuga. It was almost as if we were creating a blown-up sub-story for Infinite Wealth.
He added that the team had “wanted to make a game called Like a Dragon: Tuna, where Kazuma Kiryu, as a tuna fisherman, sets off to sea to fight against fishing boats.” Wonder how that would have turned out?
As it turns out, the team settled on Goro Majima to star in the pirate-themed spinoff, who let’s face it is probably crazy enough to pull it off given the nature of his character.
Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is scheduled for release on PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One on February 25, 2025. You can read our hands-on preview from the Tokyo Game Show here.
[Source – PlayStation Blog]