The Yakuza/Like A Dragon series is having a moment right now between the reveal of new games Like a Dragon 8 and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and the announcement that Like a Dragon: Ishin is finally coming to the west next year. But in all these announcements, none of these games are coming to Nintendo Switch. Why? Because Nintendo’s brand is so family-friendly, apparently.
In a roundtable interview with Fanbyte, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Head Masayoshi Yokoyama said that while the Switch could probably run the Yakuza games, the company views the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games as “underground” because of their subject matter, and doesn’t think they fit with the family-friendly image the Switch has. Especially in Japan.
“Do we want to put a title like this where we’re going around and picking a fight with the world and doing all this Yakuza stuff, on a Switch,” Yokoyama said.
“We still kind of think of ourselves as people of the night world, right? We don’t want to be like walking around the day with everybody else,” Yokoyama said. “Like for us, it’s kind of showing this kind of underground feeling. I think the underground kind of feeling is what we want to do.”
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I get why Yokoyama would feel this way, but I hope the team changes their mind. Because respectfully: fuck them kids. Yakuza would be great on the Nintendo Switch. Maybe I’ll even play them there? I played a bit of Yakuza 0 on PlayStation and enjoyed it, but would be more inclined to play it on Switch and from the comfort of my bed.
