It’s a great time to be a fan of Yakuza, with the series achieving a level of stardom that its original creators could only have imagined. That’s been strengthened by the inclusion of Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut amongst the Switch 2’s launch titles, and it’s clear that Sega are about to heap more love on Nintendo-owning Yakuza fans with the announcement of both Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2’s release on Switch 2, coming on November 13th, 2025.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 brings back series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and has him face off against Ryuji Goda, the legendary “Dragon of Kansai” of the Omi Alliance. Kiwami 2 is a remake of the original Yakuza 2, updating it for modern consoles, and here it’s reaching what we can expect to be its final, ultimate form.
Originally release in 2018, Miguel absolutely adored the game, awarding it a 9/10 and saying, “Since the release of Yakuza Kiwami, I’ve been dreaming of a remaster of Yakuza 2 to give what is easily my favourite game in the franchise the same level of modern day polish. Sega has delivered on that dream with Yakuza Kiwami 2, creating an incredible package that takes the best game in an incredible series, and makes it even better. You were already doing a disservice to yourself before by not playing Yakuza 2, but now there are no excuses. This is a must play.”
Now, players may remember that Yakuza Kiwami launched for the original Nintendo Switch at the end of last year, so you’d be hoping that they’d offer some kind of upgrade path for players that own the original game. And while there’s no mention of that in this announcement trailer, and there were no upgrade paths for any of Sega’s previous Switch to Switch 2 titles like Sonic X Shadow Generations, it turns out that this time there is! Switch owners of the original Yakuza Kiwami will be able to purchase the Switch 2 version at a discounted price. What that means, we’ll have to wait and see, but at least there’s something for those that are going to double dip.
