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The name of the Yakuza series is permanently changing. The release date for the Yakuza 8, which was officially announced a few days ago, was also given. The game’s production company, Ryu Ga Gotoku (RGG), has not only announced 3 new Yakuza games – Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Like a Dragon: Ishin and Like a Dragon 8 – the name of the series will no longer be Yakuza, but “Like a Dragon”.
The name of the Yakuza series is being changed to match the roots of the series
Masayoshi Yokoyama, the head of the RGG studio, explained at length the reason for the name change in an interview with IGN:
“The name we chose for Yakuza 7 was Yakuza: Like a Dragon. We had been planning to change the name of the game in the West to Like a Dragon for a long time, but it would be very strange if we did it suddenly. When the reaction to the name Yakuza: Like a Dragon came, we decided to make this change for the remaining games in the series.”
Yokoyama also stated that although the game is about the Japanese underworld, it has nothing to do with the famous Yakuza, so the name change would be thematically appropriate. In 2006, it came to PS2 for the first time and came to the Western market under the name Like a Dragon Yakuza and was called “GTA set in Japan”.
Like a Dragon: Ishin! It will be released with Japanese voiceover and will support subtitles in different languages.