Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, the next game from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, was originally a concept called Like a Dragon: Tuna where original protagonist Kiryu Kazuma was a fighting fisherman.
RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama revealed the origins in a PlayStation Blog post discussing Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii ahead of its February 28 release date. The game stars the fan favorite Majima Goro as he wakes up on a beach with no memory and, in a sea-faring alternative to his yakuza roots, becomes a pirate.
It wasn’t originally going to star Majima at all, however. “For quite some time, I wanted to make a game called Like a Dragon: Tuna, where Kiryu Kazuma, as a tuna fisherman, sets off to sea to fight against fishing boats,” Yokoyama said.
“Long story short, it never came to fruition, but keywords like ‘ship,’ ‘sea,’ and ‘fighting,’ which had since then been engraved in my head, evolved into the concept of pirates.”
Kiryu has had plenty of fishy experience over the years through the myriad fishing minigames sprinkled throughout the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. He’s also resorted to beating the rowdier ones up with his fists, like in the shark boss fight from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth that’s practically the end of Jaws.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a spin-off to Infinite Wealth, the eighth mainline entry in the Yakuza series (or ninth including Yakuza 0). The series underwent a name change from Yakuza to Like a Dragon upon its release, made more confusing by the seventh game being called Yakuza: Like a Dragon and starring new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii grew into its own thing during the development of the latest game, however. “Around June or July 2023, long before the release of Infinite Wealth, the dev team was already mulling over the idea of an Infinite Wealth spin-off,” Yokoyama said.
“Even if we were to make Like a Dragon 9, we knew that wouldn’t be enough to capture and tell the story. During the end of the Infinite Wealth development, we began percolating the idea of a spin-off that stars characters who are not Ichiban Kasuga. It was almost as if we were creating a blown-up sub-story for Infinite Wealth.”
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was revealed in September as a half Yakuza, half Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag-looking entry. A lengthy reveal trailer showed Majima washed up on the beach of Rich Island, near Hawaii, looking worse for wear and helped by a child with a pet tiger (who is bizarrely played by Ichiban voice actor Nakaya Kazuhiro).
This will be the first time in a while Yakuza fans have had to wait an entire year for a new release, with Infinite Wealth having arrived in January and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii not launching until February. While this is fairly normal for most game franchises, RGG Studio is known for its rapid release schedule.
In the last five years, for example, it has released Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Judgment Remastered, Lost Judgment, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, alongside three Super Monkey Ball Games and an enhanced remaster of Virtua Fighter 5. That’s 12 games in total.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will therefore add to that list, but the next mainline game (and a mysterious trademark called Yakuza Wars) are yet to be revealed. In our first preview of the incoming entry, IGN said: “Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is ship-shaping up to be a seaworthy spin-off with a fin-favorite at its helm.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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