{"id":52689,"date":"2025-10-03T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=52689"},"modified":"2025-10-03T18:54:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T09:54:00","slug":"yakuza-kiwami-3-fundamentally-changes-the-meaning-of-the-term-kiwami-developers-say-its-no-longer-just-a-technical-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/yakuza-kiwami-3-fundamentally-changes-the-meaning-of-the-term-kiwami-developers-say-its-no-longer-just-a-technical-upgrade\/","title":{"rendered":"Yakuza Kiwami 3 fundamentally changes the meaning of the term \u201cKiwami,\u201d developers say. It\u2019s no longer just a technical upgrade\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Following from Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2, RGG Studio recently announced <strong>Yakuza Kiwami 3 &amp; Dark Ties <\/strong>\u2013<strong> <\/strong>a long-awaited remake of the series\u2019 third mainline entry, bundled with a <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-is-getting-its-darkest-story-yet-with-yakuza-kiwami-3s-dark-ties-spin-off-producer-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brand-new Mine-centric spin-off game<\/a>. Talking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisisgame.com\/articles\/403719\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ThisIsGame<\/a> at TGS 2025, the developers say that the meaning of the term \u201cKiwami\u201d has changed with this entry. In other words, their approach to remaking Yakuza 3 has taken a different path compared to past Kiwami titles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since Yakuza 1 and 2 originally launched on the PS2, their subsequent modern remakes brought a very dramatic change. \u201cThe gap in hardware was so big that simply rebuilding the graphics based on modern standards made a huge difference,\u201d says RGG Studio director Yokoyama Masayoshi. But that\u2019s not the case for Yakuza 3, which was developed for the higher-spec PS3 to begin with.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1347\" height=\"756\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1347px) 100vw, 1347px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-52692\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-001.jpg 1347w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-001-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor us, the term Kiwami no longer means just a technical upgrade. It means redefining and reinterpreting the legacy and assets we\u2019ve built so far into an entirely new piece of entertainment. Yakuza 3 will be the first project to represent this new philosophy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for what \u201credefining and reinterpreting\u201d entails, Yokoyama clarifies that this doesn\u2019t mean altering core story beats or characters, but going back in and refining details that were left out or felt ambiguous, such as parts of the story that left the player wondering why a character would act a certain way.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yakuza Kiwami 3 director Ryosuke Horii adds, \u201cWith this remake, we\u2019re revisiting a game we made not long after the Yakuza series\u2019 very beginning, so we had all these lingering feelings about it like, &#8220;I wish we could have done this differently,\u201d or \u201cI wish we could have fleshed out this character\u2019s drama more thoroughly.\u201d To make up for such inconsistencies and missed opportunities, the developers added a \u201csignificant number of new scenes that make the story more passionate and moving.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1340\" height=\"755\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1340px) 100vw, 1340px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-002.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-52693\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-002.jpg 1340w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-002-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/20251003-52689-002-768x433.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Aside from new scenes, Yakuza Kiwami 3 adjusts the delivery of existing scenes, such as the tone of actors\u2019 performances, for example, \u201cmaking sad scenes even more heartbreaking.\u201d Yokoyama also promises some \u201csurprising\u201d sides to the remake, but that wouldn\u2019t be a first for the series.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as the more technical sides of the game go, Yakuza Kiwami 3 will have a completely rebuilt Okinawa map that corrects issues the developers became aware of 16 years later. This includes reducing needlessly spacious areas, packing in more side content, and making movement and spacing feel more comfortable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sega.com\/like-a-dragon-yakuza\/yakuza-kiwami-3-dark-ties\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yakuza Kiwami 3 &amp; Dark Ties<\/a> launches on February 12 for PC (Steam), PS5\/PS4, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related articles: <a 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\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yakuza Dark Ties was originally supposed to be just a viewable movie, but RGG Studio couldn\u2019t miss out on its last opportunity to make Mine playable\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-is-getting-its-darkest-story-yet-with-yakuza-kiwami-3s-dark-ties-spin-off-producer-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Like a Dragon is getting its darkest story yet with Yakuza Kiwami 3\u2019s Dark Ties spin-off, producer says<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like a Dragon series developers on how their philosophy on producing Kiwami remakes has changed with Yakuza Kiwami 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":52691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-52689","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 Kiwami 3 fundamentally changes the meaning of the term \u201cKiwami,\u201d developers say. It\u2019s no longer just a technical upgrade\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Like a Dragon series developers on how their philosophy on producing Kiwami remakes has changed with Yakuza Kiwami 3.\" \/>\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-kiwami-3-fundamentally-changes-the-meaning-of-the-term-kiwami-developers-say-its-no-longer-just-a-technical-upgrade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yakuza Kiwami 3 fundamentally changes the meaning of the term \u201cKiwami,\u201d developers say. 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