{"id":28617,"date":"2024-03-18T13:36:41","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T04:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=28617"},"modified":"2024-03-18T13:36:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T04:36:42","slug":"like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-dev-surprised-by-unprecedented-speed-of-sales-and-big-change-in-sales-pattern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-dev-surprised-by-unprecedented-speed-of-sales-and-big-change-in-sales-pattern\/","title":{"rendered":"Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth dev surprised by unprecedented speed of sales and big change in sales pattern\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Just one week after launch, Sega announced<\/a> that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth<\/strong> had topped 1 million units sold, making it the series\u2019 fastest-selling title to date. More recently, Ryu Ga Gotoku studio\u2019s executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama commented on how the latest title has performed differently to the usual sales pattern for Like a Dragon games (source: 4Gamer<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has broken many records for the almost 20-year-old series \u2013 one being the sheer volume of its content (which Yokoyama has described as \u201cmonster-class\u201d<\/a>). It is also the series\u2019 most well-reviewed title, with a current Metacritic<\/a> score of 89. The latest Yakuza game quickly became the fastest-selling title of the series too, to a degree that even the developers had apparently not expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a statement to 4Gamer<\/a>, Like a Dragon series producer and RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama explained just how unprecedented Infinite Wealth\u2019s performance has been so far: \u201cWe gave a press release about how (Infinite Wealth) sold over 1 million copies worldwide in one week following its release, but it\u2019s really a speed we have never experienced before.\u201d He adds, \u201cLike a Dragon games sell in the long run, rather than right off the bat. This has been the case ever since the series\u2019 early days. It has an adult player base, after all, so there\u2019s no rush, you know? People hear about the games from their friends, they happen to come across them, and that\u2019s how the titles grow. That\u2019s why the way (Infinite Wealth) started off was quite surprising to me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the nature of Yakuza games and their target audience, the Like a Dragon developers are not used to expecting explosive sales immediately upon launch, but rather a steady accumulation over time. However, it seems that Infinite Wealth has changed this pattern with its unexpectedly high launch sales. Furthermore, sales in Japan and Asia seem to have made up a big part of this momentum, as Yokoyama notes, \u201cThe game is incredibly strong in Japan. Sales in (the rest of) Asia are also quite strong, but the momentum in Japan is even greater than in the past.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, Yokoyama had made similar observations about Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased his Name (which released in November 2023) in a past interview with us<\/a>, noting, \u201cDomestic sales this time around are astonishing, I can really feel the series\u2019 popularity reigniting in Japan. Gaiden might be our best-selling title in recent times.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the Like a Dragon series has been increasingly popular on the West over the years (particularly since the largely successful Steam release of Yakuza 0), it seems the Japanese market has once again become a significant driving force of sales. Yokoyama has previously commented that in terms of game content, he does not intend to make concessions in order to be more global-friendly, \u201c(…) this is not to say that I am in any way conscious of the overseas market. The staff over at the Sega overseas offices always tell me \u2018Don\u2019t change anything.\u2019 (…) A lot of people are warning me not to be influenced in weird ways, and I place a high importance on that too.\u201d This attitude may ironically be what has contributed to the series\u2019 worldwide growth, as fans of Japanese video games tend to seek out the same qualities Japanese players do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Yokoyama jokingly comments, \u201cCompared to our other recent releases, Infinite Wealth is on a whole different level. I wonder what it does so well?\u201d in his statement to 4gamer, the developers seem to know what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth<\/a>\u00a0is available for the PC (Steam), PS4\/PS5 and Xbox Series X|S\/Xbox One.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama has commented on the speed of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s sales, which are record-breaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":28619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-28617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth dev surprised by unprecedented speed of sales and big change in sales pattern\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama has commented on the speed of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth's sales, which are record-breaking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-dev-surprised-by-unprecedented-speed-of-sales-and-big-change-in-sales-pattern\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth dev surprised by unprecedented speed of sales and big change in sales pattern\u00a0 - 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