Yakuza Developer Is Creating a New Franchise

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, which is the developer behind the Yakuza and Judgment franchises, is said to be working on a wholly new franchise. In recent months, the studio has released its latest project, Lost Judgment, while also confirming that a sequel to last year's Yakuza: Like a Dragon is also in the works. And while it seemed likely that this follow-up would be the only major project that the studio might be focusing on at the moment, that doesn't seem to be the case.

In a new conversation with Famitsu, RGG Studio's own Masayoshi Yokoyama stated that the company is currently working on new projects that aren't associated with Yakuza or Judgment. While Yokoyama didn't go on to say much else about these new games in question, it does seem to confirm that RGG Studio doesn't want to fall into a pattern of solely releasing Yakuza and Judgment titles one after another in the coming years. 

Perhaps the most interesting nugget of information in this interview outside of the confirmation of a new franchise is that Yokoyama also stated that the studio will seemingly remain very committed to the Judgment series moving forward. "We will continue to cherish the Judgement series," he said simply. 

The reason this is intriguing is because earlier this year, reports circled indicating that the future of Judgment as a franchise was up in the air at Sega. The reason for this was due to an ongoing dispute with one of the actors associated with the series that prevented a PC version from being released. With Sega being unable to create a PC iteration due to this matter, reports stated that the publisher may opt to not continue the franchise as a whole. It remains to be seen if this will hold true in the long term. 

In a general sense, what do you think about RGG Studio expanding to work on games outside of Yakuza and Judgment? Let me know your own reaction either down in the comments or shoot me a message on Twitter at @MooreMan12.

[H/T VGC]