Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be out a few days earlier than expected

(Image credit: Sega)

In a nice departure from the disappointment of game delays, the upcoming Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be out a few days earlier than expected—and we've got the next generation of Xbox consoles to thank for it.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was originally set to arrive on November 13, but earlier this month Microsoft announced a November 10 launch date for the Xbox Series X and S consoles. That prompted Sega to bump the Yakuza launch date up a few days, across all platforms. (Though the PlayStation 5 version of the game is set to come out on March 2, 2021.)

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The new Yakuza promises to be quite a bit different than previous games in the series, with turn-based combat and party members who will back you up in fights, RPG style. It's set in Yokohama rather than Tokyo, and features a new lead character, Ichiban Kasuga, who spends 18 years in prison covering for a murderer, and then ends up nearly murdered himself—by the people he was covering for, no less—when he finally gets out. No good deed, eh?

It sounds like a classic crime tale setup, but much of the game will apparently also involve turning around a failing confectionery business and going drinking with your friends. That's just how Yakuza rolls, I guess. 

It turns out that reports of a new Yakuza game announcement that was expected to take place on Sunday were incorrect—as reported by Gematsu, the Tokyo Game Show co-host who shared the information said the next day that she misunderstood what Sega was actually planning—but on the upside, work has begun on a new Yakuza live-action film.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.