{"id":56049,"date":"2026-01-23T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56049"},"modified":"2026-01-22T18:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:42:23","slug":"the-story-of-yakuza-kiwami-3s-dark-ties-spin-off-was-based-on-the-yakuza-online-mobile-game-according-to-series-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-story-of-yakuza-kiwami-3s-dark-ties-spin-off-was-based-on-the-yakuza-online-mobile-game-according-to-series-producer\/","title":{"rendered":"The story of\u00a0Yakuza Kiwami 3\u2019s\u00a0Dark Ties\u00a0spin-off\u00a0was based on\u00a0the Yakuza Online mobile game, according to series producer\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>While\u00a0<strong>Yakuza Kiwami 3\u2019s\u00a0<\/strong>Dark Ties\u00a0spin-off\u00a0<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\">focuses on Yoshitaka Mine<\/a>, the\u00a0antagonist\u00a0of the mainline game, this\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0the first time\u00a0his\u00a0past was explored in the franchise.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/articles\/reportjp\/like-a-dragon-3-and-3gaiden-20260122-409909\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a>Talking to AUTOMATON at a recent demo event in Osaka, Japan,\u00a0Like\u00a0a\u00a0Dragon series executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama revealed that the\u00a0spin-off&#8217;s narrative uses the\u00a0ever-evolving\u00a0story of\u00a0the 2018 mobile game Yakuza Online\u00a0as its basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat story (from Yakuza Online) is\u00a0essentially the\u00a0foundation. Since it worked so well, I always wanted to properly develop it for consoles someday. Originally, that scenario was written by Takeuchi, but this time,\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0fleshed out Mine&#8217;s past even further, so various elements have been added.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1511\" height=\"851\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1511px) 100vw, 1511px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260122-56049-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-56052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260122-56049-001.jpg 1511w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260122-56049-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260122-56049-001-768x433.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cTakeuchi\u201d Yokoyama is referring to is\u00a0Kazunobu\u00a0Takeuchi, a longtime writer for Yakuza Online and other mainline Yakuza\/Like A Dragon titles.\u00a0While Yakuza Online primarily follows new protagonist\u00a0Ichiban Kasuga, legacy characters like Kazuma\u00a0Kiryu\u00a0and\u00a0Ryuji Goda\u00a0occasionally\u00a0drop in\u00a0to give some backstory on\u00a0previous\u00a0entries.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given Yakuza\u00a0Online\u2019s\u00a0supporting narrative\u00a0details and its status as a Japan-exclusive title,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0understandable why Yokoyama\u00a0wants\u00a0to bring parts of\u00a0the\u00a0story\u00a0into\u00a0mainline\u00a0releases\u00a0for more fans to enjoy.\u00a0In Mine\u2019s case, this\u00a0resulted in the franchise getting\u00a0what\u00a0its\u00a0developers regard as\u00a0<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\">its darkest entry yet<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related:\u00a0<br><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/yakuza-kiwami-3s-new-life-at-morning-glory-content-is-the-single-most-crucial-part-of-the-game-director-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yakuza Kiwami 3\u2019s new Life at Morning Glory content is the single most crucial part of the game, director says<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/yakuza-3-was-a-game-with-many-rough-edges-and-making-a-good-remake-meant-confronting-that-reality-says-director\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yakuza 3 was a game with many rough edges, and making a good remake meant confronting that reality, says director<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dark Ties, Yakuza Kiwami 3&#8217;s Mine-centric spin-off game, uses Yakuza Online&#8217;s story as the basis of its narrative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":56051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-56049","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>The story of\u00a0Yakuza Kiwami 3\u2019s\u00a0Dark Ties\u00a0spin-off\u00a0was based on\u00a0the Yakuza Online mobile game, according to series producer\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dark Ties, Yakuza Kiwami 3&#039;s Mine-centric spin-off game, uses Yakuza Online&#039;s story as the basis of its narrative.\" \/>\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\/the-story-of-yakuza-kiwami-3s-dark-ties-spin-off-was-based-on-the-yakuza-online-mobile-game-according-to-series-producer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The story of\u00a0Yakuza Kiwami 3\u2019s\u00a0Dark Ties\u00a0spin-off\u00a0was based on\u00a0the Yakuza Online mobile game, according to series producer\u00a0 - 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