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[ArtHands]

Like a Dragon Interview: Producer Discusses Ishin, Gaiden, Platforms, the Success of the Franchise, & More

The Like a Dragon series, formerly known as Yakuza, has a bright future.

twinfinite.net

Giuseppe Nelva: We can say that the Like a Dragon series has moved to be fully multiplatform. Did this widen the audience considerably compared to the previous PlayStation-only releases? Do you think a model like Game Pass suits Like a Dragon well?

Masayoshi Yokoyama: In terms of audience, I think the West has especially increased. It’s hard to tell if that’s thanks to multiplatform or if it’s because we changed the genre and protagonist from Yakuza: Like a Dragon as a new series, or both. Personally, I do think subscriptions like Game Pass, allowing people to play the previous games over the years, have contributed largely to the increase in audience.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Oh shit, what do you know....this guy just signed up for the hit list.

God speed, fellow man.

Just like persona will see growth etc thanks to game pass. Plagues tale etc. Game pass has a lot of positives that people don't want to accept. Yes there are negatives that there are too many games, almost and you may have more players that drop a game if it doesn't grab them but that's the way it goes I suppose.

 

[intheinbetween]

He should drop an email to the CMA
/jk

 

[Three]

How is this not obvious that an "audience size" increases for something somebody doesn't have to actively go out and buy?

 

[Panajev2001a]

Oh shit, what do you know....this guy just signed up for the hit list.

God speed, fellow man.

Just like persona will see growth etc thanks to game pass. Plagues tale etc. Game pass has a lot of positives that people don't want to accept. Yes there are negatives that there are too many games, almost and you may have more players that drop a game if it doesn't grab them but that's the way it goes I suppose.

The biggest negative is devaluing game prices, it will have consequences .

 

[DonJimbo]

How are the Yakuza games ?
Never played them only a bit of Judgement are they comparable?
Should I try them out although i quit playing Judgement ?

 

[EDMIX]

Oh shit, what do you know....this guy just signed up for the hit list.

God speed, fellow man.

Just like persona will see growth etc thanks to game pass. Plagues tale etc. Game pass has a lot of positives that people don't want to accept. Yes there are negatives that there are too many games, almost and you may have more players that drop a game if it doesn't grab them but that's the way it goes I suppose.

Nah, he used to be cool....now he is woke and killed Kiryu

Look what they did to ma boy! Turned him into a K-Pop star, Retconned the whole damn series. Why? Cause Willy GATES, he is woke, thus XB is woke, thus Yakuza MUST be woke in order to please the Illuminati. It was all part of their agenda and the knee twas bent.


Turns out this is what he was going to look like before MS got involved and FORCED da WOKEZ!

I want to REAL Yakuza 8 that was cut, stripped from us to fit an agenda, how could he broz! /s




Semi on topic, I do believe Gamepass has many negatives, but many positives as well as lots that never played Persona or Yakuza can jump in and freely explore the IP that otherwise may have never cared. For Yakuza, I feel its more to do with Zero as its a great starting point and it made sense to do a remake of 1 to follow up to not have people feel left behind, so I feel with some beat em up, that starts with Zero and 1, that is more welcoming and fans feel like they are getting the story from the beginning. I feel most series when going to new platforms should do this, maybe not so much for COD or AC or FF, series that are known to not be in order or something.


DonJimbo Yakuza games are amazing. If you like Judgement, start with Yakuza Zero, then move to 1,2,3,4,5 etc

Stick with Judgement 1 and 2 though as it is a bit of a overlap, but nothing you really find out in those games will ruin anything in Yakuza, but if you like the beat em ups, those are the games to look out for. Nothing wrong with Yakuza Like A Dragon though, but if you like Judgement, I'd assume you'd also like that beat em up style from 1-6

 

[Bernd Lauert]

 

[MOTM]

GAF trying to figure out how to turn this into a negative

 

[jm89]

Releasing on another platform we never released on and giving it away for "free" increases audience size?

Noble prize in order for this discovery?

 

[Bernd Lauert]

The biggest negative is devaluing game prices, it will have consequences .

The games that make the most money are usually free

 

[GymWolf]

How are the Yakuza games ?
Never played them only a bit of Judgement are they comparable?
Should I try them out although i quit playing Judgement ?

Unless you absolutely love yakuza crime storie over lawyers stories, save the money.

I love the brand but if you don't like one, the chance of notcliking the others is extremely high.

If you have gamepass you can try yakuza 0, by far the best game in the saga and perfect starting point.

 

[MOTM]

The biggest negative is devaluing game prices, it will have consequences .

Gamepass has been available for more than 5 years now. Those negative consequences really are taking their sweet time aren’t they.

 

[Godot25]

Yup. I had no interest in buying Yakuza games because I was not sure they will appeal to me.
Sooo...thanks Game Pass?

 

[Godot25]

Gamepass has been available for more than 5 years now. Those negative consequences really are taking their sweet time aren’t they.

Soon™

 

[DForce]

Oh shit, what do you know....this guy just signed up for the hit list.

God speed, fellow man.

Just like persona will see growth etc thanks to game pass. Plagues tale etc. Game pass has a lot of positives that people don't want to accept. Yes there are negatives that there are too many games, almost and you may have more players that drop a game if it doesn't grab them but that's the way it goes I suppose.

Any game that releases on PlayStation Plus or Game Pass is going to gain a bigger audience. The issue is that Xbox fans think this only happens with Game Pass.

Do you know how many games were released on day 1 on PS+ and became successful? Remember Rocket League? How about Fall Guys?

It's strange when Xbox fans want to celebrate something that's very common.

 

[Mr Moose]

In terms of audience, yes, that's pretty obvious.

 

[Godot25]

Any game that releases on PlayStation Plus or Game Pass is going to gain a bigger audience. The issue is that Xbox fans think this only happens with Game Pass.

Do you know how many games were released on day 1 on PS+ and became successful? Remember Rocket League? How about Fall Guys?

It's strange when Xbox fans want to celebrate something that's very common.

To be honest, Fall Guys blew up also on Steam where it was a paid game. Same for Rocket League.

So there is no denying that PS Plus helped those games "get into spotlight" but trying to pretend that they are/were popular just because of PS Plus is not the whole truth.

 

[phil_t98]

The biggest negative is devaluing game prices, it will have consequences .

evidence of that?

 

[reksveks]

Devaluation games is a bit of a weird one. It might devalue the game for a consumer but maybe increases the value to the platform holder.

Who knows?

 

[Mr Moose]

Shouldn't the title be "subscriptions like Game Pass"?

 

[DForce]

To be honest, Fall Guys blew up also on Steam where it was a paid game. Same for Rocket League.

So there is no denying that PS Plus helped those games "get into spotlight" but trying to pretend that they are/were popular just because of PS Plus is not the whole truth.

Try reading my comment again.

Do you know how many games were released on day 1 on PS+ and became successful? Remember Rocket League? How about Fall Guys?

Nowhere did I state it was only successful because it released on PS+, I clearly said it released on PS+ and became successful.

FYI: Games can be successful on one platform and not the other. The fact is, it was a successful release and probably would've seen different results if it was a paid release on PS consoles.

 

[anthony2690]

I've found myself buying/enjoyoing more games, I ended up purchasing Yakuza like a dragon, judgment & lost judgment, thanks to playing prior games on game pass. (0, kiwami 1 & 2) what I've since purchased as I liked them that much & I ended up buying 5 for £3.74 on sale, what I've not played get.

Hopefully Persona 5 Royal sees a similar jump to their fan base & hopefully it encourages them to release games same day on all platforms in the future.

Xbox is marketing the persona 5 royal game pass addition quite heavily.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

It's strange when Xbox fans want to celebrate something that's very common.

Not that strange if you've been on this forum longer than a minute. Gamepass was supposed to destroy the gaming industry, according to many people here.

 

[anthony2690]

Any game that releases on PlayStation Plus or Game Pass is going to gain a bigger audience. The issue is that Xbox fans think this only happens with Game Pass.

Do you know how many games were released on day 1 on PS+ and became successful? Remember Rocket League? How about Fall Guys?

It's strange when Xbox fans want to celebrate something that's very common.

No one is saying otherwise...
& People celebrated fall guys and the instant player base that playstation plus gave it too.
Same with Rocket League.

Plus I think Xbox fans are celebrating/happy about it, as it means Yakuza will continue to see day one releases on Xbox (not on game pass) but the platform won't be missing out anymore.

So hopefully the same happens with Persona

The one I'm really excited about/hopeful about is guilty gear strive on game pass, i'm really hoping it goes well and brings a lot of new fans to arc system works games.

Hopefully the game can handle that many players, as it will probably have more players than ever before, before all the casual fighting game fans drop off.

 

[fallingdove]

Gamepass has been available for more than 5 years now. Those negative consequences really are taking their sweet time aren’t they.

How would you know either way? Microsoft shares next to nothing when it comes to the profitability of this service.

Personally though - since the beginning of the generation I have spent about $75 on games for my Series X for a discounted Forza Horizon 5, a digital copy of Lost Odyssey and the periodic $1 promo for 30 days of GamePass. Historically I would have spent $400 or more on games at this point - games I have now played and beaten through the GamePass loop hole. I can’t imagine that I am the only Xbox user that has become eroding revenue for the business as a result of the service.

 

[Hobbygaming]

 

[reksveks]

I can’t imagine that I am the only Xbox user that has become eroding revenue for the business as a result of the service.

Content revenue is growing in line with the market so whilst you may be spending less revenue, it does seem like others still are or the increased user base is covering the reduced arpu.

Profitability is a black box.

 

[supernova8]

How is this not obvious that an "audience size" increases for something somebody doesn't have to actively go out and buy?

Yeah I thought the same.
If he said something more concrete like "after we put a bunch of Yakuza titles on (services like) Game Pass, we saw a big spike in the number of sales for Yakuza titles not on (services like) Game Pass", it would have more impact. In any case if SEGA is not losing out (new game sales of its older games are probably lifeless anyway) then power to them.

Also, I could be wrong but I suspect that the bulk of Yakuza 7 sales were always going to be on Playstation (PS4 in Japan was out almost a year before the Western release) so they would be more than happy to take a check from Microsoft to put their games on Game Pass.

Or put differently, and in monetary terms, surely the calculation was that they would make more money from putting it on Game Pass and getting an upfront payment from Xbox compared to trying to sell individual titles on Xbox, and becomes especially juicy if, as mentioned above, (for example) 90% of Yakuza sales are on Playstation anyway. It's pretty much a zero-risk bet for Sega.

 

[reksveks]

Re the point, yeah putting games on subscription services lowers the barriers to entry and exit. The key thing for publishers is getting the initial revenue model/amount right and then having a strategy for the IP (Could be one of many options).

 

[Bernd Lauert]

How would you know either way? Microsoft shares next to nothing when it comes to the profitability of this service.

Personally though - since the beginning of the generation I have spent about $75 on games for my Series X for a discounted Forza Horizon 5, a digital copy of Lost Odyssey and the periodic $1 promo for 30 days of GamePass. Historically I would have spent $400 or more on games at this point - games I have now played and beaten through the GamePass loop hole. I can’t imagine that I am the only Xbox user that has become eroding revenue for the business as a result of the service.

You're not representative of the average user. Xbox revenue has been consistently increasing.

 

[MOTM]

How would you know either way? Microsoft shares next to nothing when it comes to the profitability of this service.

Personally though - since the beginning of the generation I have spent about $75 on games for my Series X for a discounted Forza Horizon 5, a digital copy of Lost Odyssey and the periodic $1 promo for 30 days of GamePass. Historically I would have spent $400 or more on games at this point - games I have now played and beaten through the GamePass loop hole. I can’t imagine that I am the only Xbox user that has become eroding revenue for the business as a result of the service.

Maybe you and the other nerds online who repeat that ad nauseam.

Gamepass revenue: 2.9 Billion
Xbox revenue: 16 billion
Record revenue for Xbox.
https://wccftech.com/xbox-game-pass...gaming-generated-16-billion-in-calendar-year/

MS is so happy with the numbers that they went out and spend $70B to further their investment so don't worry, they're totally fine.

 

[DForce]

Not that strange if you've been on this forum longer than a minute. Gamepass was supposed to destroy the gaming industry, according to many people here.

I know whenever someone says anything negative about Game Pass then people start to get upset.

What would happen if Microsoft didn't offer third-party developers money to put the game on their service? You likely wouldn't see it.

Xbox fans think it's all positive because they're getting the game for a reduced price. They're also quoting every single third-party developer who praises it after getting paid to put the game on their service. It's not going to destroy the industry, but if more and more games are released on a subscription service, then we're going to see more games adopt the GaaS model. You already have gamers complaining about game prices who are game pass subscribers and are lowing their standard for games because it's cheap and it's on Game Pass.

 

[DForce]

No one is saying otherwise...
& People celebrated fall guys and the instant player base that playstation plus gave it too.
Same with Rocket League.

Plus I think Xbox fans are celebrating/happy about it, as it means Yakuza will continue to see day one releases on Xbox (not on game pass) but the platform won't be missing out anymore.

So hopefully the same happens with Persona

The one I'm really excited about/hopeful about is guilty gear strive on game pass, i'm really hoping it goes well and brings a lot of new fans to arc system works games.

Hopefully the game can handle that many players, as it will probably have more players than ever before, before all the casual fighting game fans drop off.

The point is that people are saying, "I thought Game Pass was bad" or "this proves Game Pass is great."

Developers are going to obviously be happy to put their game on Game Pass if they're getting paid to, so it's rather funny for people to use this as proof.

 

[Godot25]

How would you know either way? Microsoft shares next to nothing when it comes to the profitability of this service.

Personally though - since the beginning of the generation I have spent about $75 on games for my Series X for a discounted Forza Horizon 5, a digital copy of Lost Odyssey and the periodic $1 promo for 30 days of GamePass. Historically I would have spent $400 or more on games at this point - games I have now played and beaten through the GamePass loop hole. I can’t imagine that I am the only Xbox user that has become eroding revenue for the business as a result of the service.

I'm sure you representing whole Xbox community.

That's why Microsoft made 2,9 billion with Game Pass on consoles in 2021...

 

[anthony2690]

The point is that people are saying, "I thought Game Pass was bad" or "this proves Game Pass is great."

Developers are going to obviously be happy to put their game on Game Pass if they're getting paid to, so it's rather funny for people to use this as proof.

It's just the outliers saying it.

We have people on this site that always try find negatives to game pass, that want the service to fail.

Or keep saying how it will be negative for developers/gamers etc.

Comments ps plus service tends to avoid here.

& These people are just having playful jabs at them users.

It's trivial stuff.

Both services are pretty cool/nice for consumers

 

[JerryinSoCal]

It cracks me up when people say "we had a lot of new people try our game, they were more than willing to play it if they didn't have to actually pay for it directly" lol.

 

[Beer Baelly]

The gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Rykan]

if it’s because we changed the genre and protagonist from Yakuza: Like a Dragon as a new series

Yea I ehh.... I don't think the change from an action game to turn based JRPG had much to do with the growth on Xbox platforms.

 

[Chukhopops]

How would you know either way? Microsoft shares next to nothing when it comes to the profitability of this service.

Personally though - since the beginning of the generation I have spent about $75 on games for my Series X for a discounted Forza Horizon 5, a digital copy of Lost Odyssey and the periodic $1 promo for 30 days of GamePass. Historically I would have spent $400 or more on games at this point - games I have now played and beaten through the GamePass loop hole. I can’t imagine that I am the only Xbox user that has become eroding revenue for the business as a result of the service.

Well what we know is that Xbox gaming revenue has more than doubled since the time GP was added.

And that’s an indisputable fact.

 

[Bojanglez]

Oh shit, what do you know....this guy just signed up for the hit list.

God speed, fellow man.

Just like persona will see growth etc thanks to game pass. Plagues tale etc. Game pass has a lot of positives that people don't want to accept. Yes there are negatives that there are too many games, almost and you may have more players that drop a game if it doesn't grab them but that's the way it goes I suppose.

Who doesn't accept that putting back catalogue media on subscription services brings in new audiences? It's just common sense.

 

[Snake29]

Now try to sell it without Gamepass.

 

[GhostOfTsu]

He could say the same thing about PS+, Indie Humble or Epic store giveaway. I don't know why this is twisted into "because of Game Pass"?

 

[DenchDeckard]

Who doesn't accept that putting back catalogue media on subscription services brings in new audiences? It's just common sense.

Now try to sell it without Gamepass.

He could say the same thing about PS+, Indie Humble or Epic store giveaway. I don't know why this is twisted into "because of Game Pass"?

As a developer, if you are getting paid...wouldn't you want as many people as possible to play your game?...why would you care if they can "sell" it or not...theyve sold it...to microsoft.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

The point is that people are saying, "I thought Game Pass was bad" or "this proves Game Pass is great."

Developers are going to obviously be happy to put their game on Game Pass if they're getting paid to, so it's rather funny for people to use this as proof.

But if devs are happy, and gamers are happy, what exactly is the problem?

 

[KungFucius]

Oh shit, what do you know....this guy just signed up for the hit list.

God speed, fellow man.

Just like persona will see growth etc thanks to game pass. Plagues tale etc. Game pass has a lot of positives that people don't want to accept. Yes there are negatives that there are too many games, almost and you may have more players that drop a game if it doesn't grab them but that's the way it goes I suppose.

But being a service maybe they can track when people drop games and, if there is a pattern, improve their designs to keep players engaged. For the customer it's better to be able to drop a game that you don't like all that much without feeling like you wasted money on it.

The thing I find most interesting is that it lowers the risk for experimental games for both player and dev. I don't think a game like Pentiment would have happened without Game Pass, and if it did, I don't think as many would try it.

 

[Nankatsu]

He ain't wrong.

Same way Gamepass certainly allowed the series to boost its sales, Playstation allowed the series to built a really solid foundation to be what it is today and peek people's interested in it.

It's an amazing series that truly deserves to be played by everyone.

I like the console I support to have exclusives, not gonna deny that, but Yakuza as always been one of the series that I think it truly deserves love and recognition from a much larger audience. It's perhaps one of the few franchises I'm happy it went multiplaform.

 

[Chukhopops]

Now try to sell it without Gamepass.

But recent RGG games like Y7, Judgment and Lost Judgment were not on GP Day 1 and they still beat the numbers from previous episodes.

I know I discovered Yakuza on GP and then bought every subsequent episode.

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/yakuza-like-a-dragon-successful-international/

https://tojodojo.com/lost-judgments...er-than-those-of-the-original-game-at-launch/

I think you’re just wrong basically.

 

[Godot25]

Now try to sell it without Gamepass.

You know that game is available for purchase on Xbox right?

 

[Phil_the_goat]

I tried yakuza 1 on ps2 and then y3 on ps3 but it never clicked with me. I downloaded y0 from gamepass and liked it so much that I finished all of them. Take those gamepass $1 sega, no need to thank me.