Yakuza 7, the latest entry in Sega’s quirky face-punching franchise, has reportedly sold more than 400,000 copies according to sales reports.
The sequel, which launched on January 16th 2020 in Japan, is steadily approaching the half a million milestone with sales figures accounting for both digital and physical copies sold.
Despite Yakuza 7’s commercial success, these numbers a slightly down when compared to the previous mainline instalment in the series, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. The Sega brawler shipped 500,000 copies during its launch week back in December 2016.
It’s worth pointing out that Yakuza 6 effectively marked the end of an era, bringing protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s story to end after a string of sequels. On top of that, Yakuza 7 (referred to in the west as Yakuza: Like a Dragon) introduces some major changes in the way the series plays out.
Where previous Yakuza games have focused on frenetic bouts of brawling as you swagger through the streets of Kamurocho, Yakuza 7 is a full-on turn based roleplaying game similar to Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest.
It features a new frizzy haired anti-hero, Ichiban Kasuga, who doesn’t exactly match Kiryu’s brand of quiet stoicism. Speaking of Kamurocho, this new Yakuza game has also gone for a complete change of setting, moving the series to Yokohama.
Sega has yet to confirm when we’ll be seeing Yakuza: Like a Dragon launch overseas though it is expected to do so some time in 2020. With the game having already shipped in Japan, it seems unlikely that Sega will hold back its international release in favour of a next-gen version.
Aside from a release date, there’s also the question of what systems Yakuza 7 will appear on. Naturally, it will be making its way to PlayStation 4 for sure though over the years we’ve seen Sega start to share some of that Yakuza love with PC and Xbox players. Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 all recently launched on Xbox One and were even added to Game Pass.
Source: Siliconera
