Why did Like a Dragon become a turn-based RPG?
The famous story, that an April Fools joke was so popular the game changed genre, is one the studio's own chief has publicly corrected.
On April 1, 2019, Sega published a joke video: new hero Ichiban Kasuga fighting in old-school, menu-driven, turn-based RPG combat. Months later the joke turned out to be the game. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryū ga Gotoku 7, Japan January 16, 2020) replaced sixteen years of real-time brawling with party-based RPG battles, and sold better than any entry before it: over 3.5 million copies.
THE MYTH AND THE RECORD
Two tellingsNagoshi's telling
Nagoshi said in interviews that the game had been an action title until the April Fools video's reaction persuaded the studio to rebuild it as an RPG mid-development. It is a wonderful story, and it has been repeated everywhere.
Yokoyama's correction
"Of course it was a joke," studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama later clarified. "We decide on those things before we ever start developing the game. It was not a late decision." The turn-based design was the plan from the start; the video was marketing dressed as a gag.
The in-fiction reason
The story was written around Ichiban gathering a party of friends, so party mechanics grew from the plot. And Ichiban himself is the justification: an unemployed ex-yakuza who grew up obsessed with Dragon Quest and literally sees street fights as Dragon Quest battles. Sega cleared the homage properly, securing permission from Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii to name the series in-game.
THE ARTIFACT
Ichiban's debut
Yakuza: Like a Dragon · cover art (2020)
Golden light, a raised fist, and a whole party behind him: the artwork announces the genre change. This is a new series wearing the old one's city, and the sales said the bet landed.