<aside> ⚠️ While efforts have been made to accurately convey the original meaning as per the interview, there may still be discrepancies or errors in the translation.
I have also made executive decisions to omit or modify certain expressions (without compromising the integrity of the original text) to enhance the clarity of the translation. Readers are encouraged to refer to the original source for complete accuracy.
This translation is provided for informational and non-profit purposes only. All rights belong to Dengeki Online where the original text was published.
You are free to repost this translation, but I would appreciate if you provide appropriate translation credits to me: x.com/coma_does
Cheers! ✨ // Coma
</aside>
The latest instalment of the ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku’ series, ‘Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’ (thereafter ‘Infinite Wealth’), was released on January 26, 2024. This game far exceeded fan expectations in terms of quality and volume. It features a human drama woven by two protagonists, Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu, exploration of a new location in Hawaii, and various side content, including the highly addictive ‘Dondoko Island’. The game has received overwhelming support worldwide and continues to deliver stellar sales numbers.
To explore the creation of ‘Infinite Wealth’, we interviewed six development members of the RGG Studio, the core staff behind the ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku’ series. In this two-part interview, we will delve into the behind-the-scenes of the game's three-year development and other areas of interest for Yakuza fans.
Kindly note that both parts of this interview contain major spoilers for ‘Infinite Wealth’. We strongly recommend completing the main story before reading this article.
▲ The six development members who participated in our interview. From the left: Hirotaka Chiba (Main Planner, Sub Story Lead), Kazunobu Takeuchi (Main Story, Character Lead), Hiroyuki Sakamoto (Chief Producer), Masayoshi Yokoyama (Executive Director), Ryosuke Horii (Chief Director), and Ryoma Minami* (Battle Lead)
*My apologies in advance but I might have translated his name wrongly: there are two pronunciations to his Kanji name and I haven’t found any English materials to cross-reference…so I went with the more ubiquitous one.
—— Before we start the interview, please share with us the respective roles you were responsible for in ‘Infinite Wealth’. Let’s start with Mr. Yokoyama and Mr Sakamoto.
Yokoyama: My role hasn’t changed much. This time, I didn’t handle the script directly, but I did work on the plot. As such, it’s really business as usual for me (laughs). Takeuchi is the main person in charge of voice acting (VA) and direction, but I attended the motion capture and VA recording. Other than that, I was involved in overall game design, management, and supervision.
Sakamoto: As this game was slated for simultaneous worldwide release, my role as a producer was to estimate the overall budget and the schedule for that. I also had to make decisions about issues like “how extensively should we recreate the setting of Hawaii” and “what standards should we use to bring together the battle system”. I gave instructions and made correctional adjustments based on the completed interim work.
In retrospect, ‘Infinite Wealth’ was the longest and largest project in scale I’ve worked on as a producer. Furthermore, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we found ourselves often scrambling for solutions to various issues, like “how should we tackle this” or “should we try that”. Without a doubt, this was the project that demanded the most patience among all the others that I worked in the ‘Ryu Ga Gotoku’ series (laughs wryly).