I love the Yakuza (or Like a Dragon) series. I’ve played every game, even Dead Souls. I know Kamurocho like the back of my hand and can belt out Baka Mitai with the best of them—but even I can’t find anything to like about Yakuza Wars.
The lull between mainline Like a Dragon games is always an interesting time for the fanbase. There’s discussion of what came before and speculation on what might come next. When Yakuza Wars was publicly trademarked earlier this year, there was quite a buzz about what it could mean for the series: real-time strategy spinoff, maybe? Standalone expansion on Yakuza 6‘s Yakuza clan creation minigame? As of today, though, the truth has been revealed, and it is, crushingly, just another dime-a-dozen mobile gacha game.
After the truly excellent one-two punch of Like a Dragon: Gaiden and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, to say this next step is a disappointment to hardcore fans would be massively understating it. Yakuza Wars will likely get its full reveal at the RGG Summit later this month, but Instagram ads and a Facebook page created to promote the game are already painting a fairly bleak picture.
Yakuza Wars is being developed by BBGame, a Chinese mobile developer and publisher known for that specific intersection of base-building and gacha mechanics purpose-built to reel in whales. From provided screenshots, it looks exactly like their other games. You build up your little pocket of the underworld, more than likely using premium currency and real-time timers to do so, then hope to pull a five-star Kazuma Kiryu to defend against rival players. It’s a formula as old as time, and it’s very good at making money. The only mobile Yakuza game I’d want is an expanded version of Yakuza 0‘s Cabaret or Infinite Wealth‘s Dondoko Island, but unfortunately we can’t have nice things.
A blurb machine-translated from its original Chinese advertises “innovative strategic war gameplay” and promises to let players “fight side by side with classic characters”—and, indeed, recognizable characters from the series are plastered all over the game’s marketing. Familiar faces hailing from every era of the series like Kiryu, Ichiban, Akiyama, and even that gold-covered guy from Kiwami 2 are here, along with a cast of original characters that just look bizarre next to their more established counterparts. Like a Dragon 9 better not require me to have played this one first.
If there’s one consolation to take from this, it’s that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio likely just leased out the Like a Dragon license and is still working on the next actual game in the series. Whether it’s Judgment 3, Kiwami 3, or another Gaiden game, it’s going to have to be good to restore balance. At least there’s still the TV series to look forward to.
