Like a Dragon’s devs know Gaiden was well received for being shorter, but Pirates Yakuza in Hawaii unintentionally ended up being a bigger game anyway 

SEGA will release Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii on February 21 for the PC (Steam), PS4/PS5 and Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S. The new Majima-centered action title is a spin-off of Infinite Wealth, making it a smaller entry to the franchise. However, as teased by RGG Studio shortly after the announcement, it will still be significantly longer than the series’ previous spin-off game, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. 

Since Like a Dragon Gaiden was well received by fans for its compact format and shorter playing time compared to other titles in the series, we asked Like a Dragon’s developers about the reason behind Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s increased volume. 

According to RGG Studio’s director Masayoshi Yokoyama, the team didn’t actually set out to make Majima’s game longer on purpose, but rather, “It’s more like the volume ‘ended up’ increasing due to the story.” 

The volume of a game is determined by the length of its main storyline, Yokoyama explains, and the main story for Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii turned out to be 1.3 times longer than that of Gaiden’s, resulting in a bigger game. 

Yokoyama says that developers can increase a game’s volume as much as they want “if they try hard enough,” such as by adding fetch quests for the player to spend time on, but Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii came out longer than Gaiden without RGG Studio doing such things. “The map is huge, there’s a bunch of places to visit, and there are still features we haven’t announced yet. The volume increased by itself.” 

According to the team, the most straightforward indicator of how Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii compares to Gaiden in terms of volume (and the trouble they went through to make it) is price. The upcoming title retails for $59.99 USD, making it 10 dollars more expensive than Gaiden. 

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is scheduled to release on February 21, 2025 for the PC (Steam), PS4/PS5 and Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S. For more dev stories and details about the game, check out our full-length interview with RGG Studio.