NicoNico Douga, the Japanese YouTube, is holding a special yearly event, the NicoNico Chokaigi 2022 from April 23 to 30, which also focuses on gaming, in particular, this year Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio held a special live stream and talk show with series producer Masayoshi Yokoyama, who revealed a new development update on Yakuza 8.
Masayoshi Yokoyama is the main producer of the Yakuza series for several years now. Even before the series’ original creator, Toshihiro Nagoshi, left Sega in 2021, Yokoyama was already leading Yakuza 7/Like a Dragon as Toshihiro Nagoshi focused on writing the Judgment and Lost Judgment games.
Masayoshi Yokoyama, now the executive producer and director of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, was the sole staff member present at the Ryu Ga Gotoku Super Talk Stage this April 29, where he answered questions from fans and shared a new development update on Yakuza 8.
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Masayoshi Yokoyama Shares a New Update on Yakuza 8 and Its Development
Right after the talk show started, Masayoshi Yokoyama was asked about the current status of Yakuza 8. The producer explained that the development is going really well, but that he cannot give us a release date yet.
He also added that the scenario team at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is nearly finished with the game’s story, and are currently writing the game’s climax. Lastly, Masayoshi Yokoyama also mentioned that several cast members of Yakuza 8 have started recording their characters’ lines.
The Yakuza Series Needs to Keep Changing
Masayoshi Yokoyama later on during the talk show also explained how his job as a producer is to keep the Yakuza series going. And for that, he cannot allow the series to keep doing the same things. He understands that change can sometimes alienate long-time fans, but things need to be changing for the series to continue. Taking this into account, we could possibly expect some surprises for Yakuza 8.
Keep in mind though that Yokoyama already stated multiple times in the past that Yakuza 8 will keep Ichiban as its protagonist as well as the turn-based JRPG battle system.
If you own a NicoNico Premium account, the timeshift archive for the talk show’s stream will be available for several days. Yakuza 8/Ryu Ga Gotoku 8 was first officially announced by Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio in December 2020, but no visuals or trailer were revealed yet.
