Today, Yakuza/Like a Dragon is everyone’s favorite wacky action game/RPG/life sim, but Sega apparently totally rejected the first promotion for the original game.
It’s taken a while, but I think it’s safe to say now that the Yakuza series (or as it’s now better known, the Like a Dragon series) is one of the most popular franchises in the industry. This is thanks in part to some strong localizations, prequels like Yakuza 0, remakes like Yakuza Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2, and shifts into the RPG format like Yakuza: Infinite Fortune. While it didn’t reach the heights of games like Granblue Fantasy: Relink, Like a Dragon: Infinite Fortune still did well when it released on Steam, so the series is clearly here to stay. However, in an interview with Weekly Ochiai (translated by Automaton), former Sega Chief Creative Officer and Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi said that Sega rejected his proposal to kickstart the series.
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Nagoshi explained that when he first considered launching the Yakuza series in the early 2000s, Sega was finding it difficult to publish successful games worldwide. “That led him to the idea of making games that would appeal to the masses, games that could be sold to anyone and anywhere,” Nagoshi said. “Many producers, myself included, thought the same way.
“But this mentality didn’t really lead to solutions, and I saw many game proposals fade into obscurity because producers followed management’s instructions to change things… That’s where it all started.”
When Nagoshi asked Sega about their reaction to his first Yakuza proposal, the developer explained, “Of course, it was rejected outright. After all, it completely went against the idea of appealing to the masses that I mentioned earlier. Kids couldn’t play it, and it didn’t cater to female or overseas audiences. In that sense, it couldn’t have been approved without resistance.”
Of course, it was eventually approved, though it apparently took at least three attempts to get it approved, and the series’ global fame is clearly a recent achievement.
Nagoshi is no longer with Sega, the series is now in the hands of Ryujin Studios, who has continued to form a new studio, but we have yet to see what he is working on, but it is safe to assume that it will be just as crazy as the beloved yakuza series.
