Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza Was Almost A Fishing Game With Kiryu
The concept for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is already pretty buck wild, even for a spin-off. According to Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama, the result could have been even stranger: For a while, he wanted to make a fishing game called like a Dragon: Tuna.
In an interview with the PlayStation Blog (via PCGamer), Yokoyama shared details about another potential idea for a spin-off. Brainstorming began around mid-2023, months prior to the release of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth on January 25, 2024. Before the team decided to have Goro Majima go on a pirate adventure, the plan was to feature Kazuma Kiryu as a tuna fisherman, who would set off to sea to fight against fishing boats.
“Long story short, it never came to fruition, but keywords like ‘ship,’ ‘sea,’ and ‘fighting,’ which had since then been engraved in my head, evolved into the concept of pirates,” Yokoyama said. It was always the intention to create a spin-off starring characters who weren’t Ichiban Kasuga, one of the protagonists of Infinite Wealth, but Majima ended up as the frontrunner.