Yakuza studio teases Yakuza 8 setting and a separate, unannounced game

Yakuza 8 will pick up several years after the events of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku is also working on a new game outside the Yakuza and Judgment universe. 

Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama discussed Ryu Ga Gotoku's plans in a recent interview with Famitsu (translated by Gematsu), just over a month after the confirmation of a direct Yakuza: Like a Dragon sequel as well as the departure of studio heads Toshihiro Nagoshi and Daisuke Sato. 

The tentatively titled Yakuza 8 "will be a sequel set several years after the story of Yakuza: Like a Dragon," Yokoyama explained, later clarifying that lead character Ichiban Kasuga will return as the protagonist of the next game in the series. He also stressed that the Judgment series remains "very important" to the studio. 

We can add this tidbit to our small but growing list of Yakuza 8 details, right alongside the fact that future games in the mainline series will be turn-based following the success of Like a Dragon, while the spinoff Judgment series will keep the action combat going. 

Speaking of Judgment, Yokoyama confirmed that Ryu Ga Gotoku has unannounced games "outside of both [the Yakuza and Judgment] series" in the works. He didn't specify how many games are spinning up, nor do his translated remarks explicitly mention new IP, but it's not hard to read between the lines. Ryu Ga Gotoku is nothing if not the house of Yakuza; it worked on some oddballs like Binary Domain and a few Super Monkey Ball games, but manly men beating the stupid out of each other is the studio's bread and butter. If it's not Yakuza or Judgment, it's reasonable to assume that it's working on something all-new, though that is just an assumption for now.

No word on Ichiban Kasuga, but Yakuza director Kazuki Hosokawa reckons Kazuma Kiryu would win in a fight with John Wick.