Ryu Ga Gotoku has provided the first glimpse of Yakuza 8 off-screen footage through a video tour of its studio. Additionally, Japanese MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura will appear in the game.
In the studio tour video, footage of Yakuza 8 can be seen on the developers’ computer screens. This confirms that the main protagonist Ichiban Kasuga is returning, as well as his buddies Koichi Adachi and Yu Nanba.
Further along in the video, Sega president Haruki Satomi and RGG president Masayoshi Yokoyama meet with Asakura to offer him a spot in the game. Asakura accepts it and then goes in for his 3D modeling and motion capture shoot.
Satomi and Yokoyama both note that players will be able to experience a new city in Yakuza 8, and also that RGG is currently developing another separate game.
What RGG’s other game could be is currently unknown. Perhaps it could be a remaster or remake of older Yakuza games that were never released outside of Japan, like the two PlayStation Portable titles, Black Panther: Like a Dragon New Chapter and Black Panther 2: Like a Dragon Ashura Chapter, or 2014’s Yakuza Ishin. The project could also be an entirely new IP.
Yakuza 8 was already confirmed to be in development earlier this year when RGG revealed that it had made changes to its executive leadership roster after series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi left Sega to join Netease.
Yakuza 8 is currently the working title for the Japanese version of the game. Yakuza 7 was localized as Yakuza: Like a Dragon for its international release, so Yakuza 8 might follow a similar naming convention.
So far, no other information about Yakuza 8 has been revealed yet, such as which platforms the game will be on.
