It may be hard to believe now, given the success of the franchise, but the original Yakuza that released back in 2005/2006 for the PlayStation 2 was meant to be a standalone title. According to series executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama, his approach to the series hasn’t changed much since then, as the habit of treating each new title as if it were the last has stuck with him.
In an interview with Famitsu, Yokoyama reveals that he only started thinking of Like a Dragon as a series once work on Yakuza 3 began. For context, he feels that Yakuza 2’s ending (which ended on a somber but satisfying note) could have been the end of the series.
But despite sequels and spin-offs now being a given for the franchise, Yokoyama still works on each Like a Dragon installment with a sense of finality:
“Even now that it’s a series, I still create each installment thinking that it could be the final chapter. As an example, I haven’t thought about what happens to Ichiban Kasuga in the future yet [after the events of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii].”
On the topic of Ichiban, Yokoyama says that he never creates characters with popularity in mind:
“Fundamentally, I believe character popularity won’t emerge unless the game sells well. So I’ve never created a character thinking that they are going to be popular.” On the other hand, he does not deny that players’ reactions affect how much screen time a character will get. He cites Goro Majima as a chief example of a character who started playing increasingly prominent roles in the series after proving to be popular among fans.
