{"id":52461,"date":"2025-09-29T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=52461"},"modified":"2025-09-29T17:08:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T08:08:47","slug":"yakuza-dark-ties-was-originally-supposed-to-be-just-a-viewable-movie-but-rgg-studio-couldnt-miss-out-on-its-last-opportunity-to-make-mine-playable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/yakuza-dark-ties-was-originally-supposed-to-be-just-a-viewable-movie-but-rgg-studio-couldnt-miss-out-on-its-last-opportunity-to-make-mine-playable\/","title":{"rendered":"Yakuza Dark Ties was originally supposed to be just a viewable movie, but RGG Studio couldn&#8217;t miss out on its last opportunity to make Mine playable\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Unlike Yakuza Kiwami 2\u2019s Majima Saga side story mode, Yakuza Kiwami 3\u2019s Dark Ties is a fully fleshed-out spin-off game centered around the main game\u2019s primary antagonist, Yoshitaka Mine. But despite the spin-off now being featured as a playable <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/making-remasters-is-a-lot-harder-than-you-think-like-a-dragon-technical-lead-yutaka-ito-shares-insight-into-rgg-studios-approach-to-remakes-and-remasters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">part of the remake bundle<\/a>, Dark Ties was originally supposed to be just a video project that came bundled with Kiwami 3. RGG Studio lead Masayoshi Yokoyama revealed as much during the latest RGG Summit, but <strong>Yakuza Kiwami 3 &amp; Dark Ties<\/strong> director Ryosuke Horii recently expanded on why the shift happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Yakuza Kiwami 3 &amp; Dark Ties | Announcement Trailer\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/za9rjoTdG_M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.famitsu.com\/article\/202509\/53863\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Famitsu<\/a>,\u00a0Horii explains that the initial plan was to produce Kiwami 3\u2019s side story as \u201csomething that could be viewed like a video.\u201d However, the development team anticipated that players would want to play as Mine, and they felt that making him a playable character was \u201cthe best way to tell his story.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another factor that seems to have contributed to Dark Ties\u2019 evolution into a game was Yoshitaka Mine\u2019s popularity. Despite his limited appearances throughout the series, Mine consistently ranks as one of the top five fan favorite characters, according to series producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto. His popularity, combined with his sole appearance in Yakuza 3 (unless we count his role as Hijikata in Like a Dragon! Ishin), contributed to RGG Studio feeling like Dark Ties was their last opportunity to make him a playable character.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1268\" height=\"708\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1268px) 100vw, 1268px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250729-52461-001.jpg\" alt=\"Yakuza Kiwami 3 &amp; Dark Ties\" class=\"wp-image-52465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250729-52461-001.jpg 1268w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250729-52461-001-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250729-52461-001-768x429.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast to the main game\u2019s more lighthearted story (and new dad simulator gameplay), Dark Ties\u2019 focus on Mine is supposed to make the spin-off \u201ccooler and more stylish.\u201d By pairing together Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties, Horii hopes the contrasting styles will make the experience even more entertaining for players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#eaeaea\"><em>In Dark Ties, Mine starts out as a businessman, but we depict him becoming increasingly involved in the world of the yakuza, which is a first for us. Unlike Kiryu and the others, Mine is not a character with a strong sense of justice. Even in the sub-stories, he doesn&#8217;t interact with people in a way that is based on the idea of <\/em><em>\u200b\u200b<\/em><em>&#8220;defeating evil and protecting the weak<\/em><em>.<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yakuza Kiwami 3 &amp; Dark Ties is set to release on February 12, 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4 and 5, PC (Windows), and Xbox Series X|S.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related articles:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/rgg-studio-starts-teaching-japanese-yakuza-fans-important-english-phrases-like-i-swear-i-didnt-kill-that-man\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RGG Studio starts teaching Japanese Yakuza fans important English phrases like \u201cI swear I didn\u2019t kill that man\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-says-like-a-dragon-pirate-yakuza-in-hawaii-is-selling-well-as-it-reports-highest-companywide-profit-figures-in-recent-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sega says Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is \u201cselling well\u201d as it reports highest companywide profit figures in recent years<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yakuza Kiwami 3 &#038; Dark Ties director Ryosuke Horii on why RGG Studio decided to develop Mine&#8217;s side story into a full game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":52464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-52461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Yakuza Dark Ties was originally supposed to be just a viewable movie, but RGG Studio couldn&#039;t miss out on its last opportunity to make Mine playable\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yakuza Kiwami 3 &amp; Dark Ties director Ryosuke Horii on why RGG Studio decided to develop Mine&#039;s side story into a full game.\" \/>\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\/yakuza-dark-ties-was-originally-supposed-to-be-just-a-viewable-movie-but-rgg-studio-couldnt-miss-out-on-its-last-opportunity-to-make-mine-playable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yakuza Dark Ties was originally supposed to be just a viewable movie, but RGG Studio couldn&#039;t miss out on its last opportunity to make Mine playable\u00a0 - 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