Yakuza Series Seems To Be Changing Its Name To 'Like A Dragon' In The West

thegamer.com:

Following the announcement of three new games coming to the series over the next few years, it looks like the Yakuza series is finally changing its name to 'Like A Dragon' in the West, seemingly dropping the name 'Yakuza' altogether.

Earlier today, Sega hosted the Ryu Ga Gotoku Summit 2022, which had three big surprises for fans of the Yakuza series - a brand-new entry in the series coming in 2024, a remake of the unreleased samurai spin-off Ishin, and a game that bridges the gap between Yakuza 6 and Like a Dragon by showing what Kazuma Kiryu did after he faked his death.

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One noticeable detail throughout the showcase was that the 'Yakuza' branding has been almost entirely dropped, even in the West. The reveal trailer for the next game in the series, what you might instinctively call Yakuza 8, is titled "Like A Dragon 8" on the official English reveal trailer. The same goes for Ishin, which is titled "Like A Dragon: Ishin", instead of Yakuza: Ishin like it previously might have.

Even the side game focused on Kiryu, The Man Who Erased His Name, makes it clear that Yakuza is being dropped from the title, instead being called "Like a Dragon Gaiden". For those who don't know, outside the West, Yakuza is known as "Like a Dragon" and has been since the very first game, only bringing over the title of 'Yakuza' when it was ported over to the West.

After the first game's release, every Like a Dragon game in the West was called "Yakuza" instead, including spin-off games like Dead Souls. This hit a strange splintering point when Like a Dragon 7 was titled Yakuza: Like A Dragon in the West instead of being called Yakuza 7. That initially caused some