Sales of Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s role-playing game, Yakuza: Like A Dragon (aka Yakuza 7), have surpassed 1.8 million copies, based on the latest information.
In its Management Meeting presentation for the year 2023, Sega has shared the latest sales figures for Yakuza 7. The company revealed that Yakuza: Like A Dragon sold 0.4 million copies in Japan and 1.4 million copies overseas, adding up to a total of 1.8 million copies worldwide.
In addition to featuring a setting within Japan, which is the core of the series, efforts are also underway to expand the global appeal of the IP. The setting for the upcoming Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is Hawaii, the series’ first even non-Japanese location.
Previously, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama talked about the massive success of the Yakuza series in the West in recent times, while also praising the role of Xbox Game Pass. During an interview, the series producer was asked about the successes the series has seen in recent times ever since the studio decided to go multiplatform.
“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, ” said Masayoshi Yokoyama. “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.”
Yakuza: Like a Dragon marks the first mainline title in the Yakuza series to adopt a turn-based RPG format. The game was initially launched in Japan and Asia for PlayStation 4 on January 16, 2020. The western release, available on PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S from November 10, 2020, introduced new costumes, English voice overs, and certain previously paid DLC. Subsequently, this version was re-released in Asia on February 25, 2021, for Windows and Xbox platforms. The game became globally available for PlayStation 5 on March 2, 2021, and an Amazon Luna version was introduced on December 10, 2021.