Yakuza: Like a Dragon Adds George Takei to Cast, Confirms PS5 Upgrade

Sega shared a series of Yakuza: Like a Dragon reveals on Wednesday to confirm things like a next-gen upgrade path for PlayStation 5 buyers as well as the English dub of the game. Featured in the cast of English talent is George Takei, the acclaimed actor well known for his role of Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek franchise. Takei will play Masumi Arakawa, the antagonist of the new game, while Kaiji Tang will lend his talents as the English voice of Ichiban Kasuga, the new protagonist who will be playable for the first time in the Yakuza series.

Accompanying these announcements was the trailer above that showed off more of the new Yakuza game that’s currently planned for the current generation of consoles as well as the next. Those keeping up with the game’s development will recall that it’s adopted more of a turn-based RPG formula than the typical Yakuza setup we’ve seen in the past, though this trailer is more about cinematics and less on actual gameplay.

Aside from having such talents like Takei joining the cast of Like a Dragon, the fact that it’s even getting an English dub at all is noteworthy. It’s not the first time this has happened in Yakuza franchise, but it’s a welcome addition to those who want it. The option was offered in Judgment, the Yakuza spin-off that featured yet another new protagonist and was well-received. Players will of course have the option to use the original dialogue and voices if they choose with subtitles.

As for the game’s release plans, we already knew that it’d be coming to the Xbox Series X as a day-one launch title whenever that console is available. For the current generation of consoles, it’s been confirmed that the game will release for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC platforms in November 2020.

If you’re planning on buying a PlayStation 5 and noticed that the Xbox version of the game will take advantage of the Smart Delivery feature to give players a free upgrade, you can look forward to something of the sort on the next-gen PlayStation as well. A “PlayStation 5 upgrade path” is planned for that version of the game, though it hasn’t been revealed yet how exactly that upgrade process will be handled.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon pre-orders have also now opened up with the unveiling of the Day Ichi, Hero, and Legendary editions of the game.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon will launch in November for the current generation of platforms and will come to the Xbox Series X as a day-one title. The PlayStation 5 version will be released at a later date.