Yakuza: Like A Dragon Achieves Worldwide Sales Of Nearly 2 Million Units

Yakuza: Like a Dragon has sold almost two million units worldwide three years post-launch. As revealed in SEGA’s management meeting ’23 last week, the seventh mainline entry in the Yakuza series sold 1.8 million copies to date. Breaking that metric down to sales in Japan and overseas, it was revealed that 400,000 units were moved within the country and 1.4 million were recorded in the global market.

Furthermore, the presentation document talks about the future plans for the series following the success of Yakuza: Like A Dragon. The franchise is poised to continue to utilize the Japanese setting that serves as its core while also considering transmedia roll-out toward global expansion of the IP. Another thing worth noting is the simultaneous release of the recent Like A Dragon Gaiden & the upcoming sequel Infinite Wealth.

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• Like A Dragon Gaiden’s English Dub Confirmed, Comes In December
• The Complete Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Soundtrack Has Leaked Online

Up until Yakuza: Like A Dragon, all entries in the franchise were initially released in Japan before coming out in other markets across the globe. Several factors contributed to this gap with the main element being the lack of manpower to focus on a simultaneous localization. Given the nuance of dialogue in Yakuza games and an increase in production costs, outsourcing the operation was ruled out as well. 

With the franchise’s growth and subsequent success of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, RGG Studio and SEGA proceeded with the multi-platform simultaneous release of Like A Dragon Gaiden. The upcoming sequel, Infinite Wealth is set to follow suit. Additionally, the remake of Ishin! was simultaneously released on current and last-gen platforms earlier this year showing the series’ upward trajectory in the global market.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon launched on January 26, 2020, in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and arriving on other platforms later on. In November of the same year, it made its way to the global market. The title serves as a turning point for the series with its revamped gameplay along with the introduction of Kasuga Ichiban.