Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio held on December 8 a special live stream celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Yakuza series. The first Ryu Ga Gotoku game released 15 years ago on PS2 on December 8, 2005. Toshihiro Nagoshi most notably confirmed at the end of the stream that the next game in the Yakuza series is already in development. Judging from past words from the  Producers, it'll likely be "Yakuza: Like A Dragon 2" but it's important to note they didn't specify if it'll be a main title or a spinoff.

Here's nearly everything which happened on the Yakuza 15th anniversary stream:

The stream was MC'ed by Yurika Tachibana. It featured the seiyuu of Kiryu and Ichiban: Takaya Kuroda and Kazuhiro Nakaya. The three Yakuza Series Producers were present as well: Toshihiro Nagoshi, Daisuke Satō, and Masayoshi Yokoyama.

Yakuza - Ryu Ga Gotoku 15th Anniversary Stream

The stream had the staff retrace the history of the Yakuza series, game per game. Spinoffs and stage plays included. We got to hear development stories on each game, and fans watching the stream via Zoom were able to ask some questions directly to the Producers. The fans were also asked questions themselves, like how many games in the series they played in total.

We most notably heard how Yakuza 4 was initially supposed to be a spinoff, with how it's the first game where you can switch protagonists. But then, Toshihiro Nagoshi told the staff it's fine to call it "Ryu Ga Gotoku 4". That's also when the series started using sub titles for the games' names in Japan.

One fan asked the staff which Yakuza character they'd like to work with or have as a subordinate. Toshihiro Nagoshi answered the question: "None of them, they'd all cause trouble".

Toshihiro Nagoshi also talked about some of his inspirations for the PSP spinoff Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō. Mainly how he always loved battle drama stories like Ashita no Joe.

Moreover, we heard how Ryū ga Gotoku Of The End / Yakuza Dead Souls could've featured aliens instead of zombies.

Toshihiro Nagoshi wanted Kiryu to tell the aliens "don't just barge into people's planet like you own the place".

Next, we also heard stories on Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!, PS4 launch title in Japan. They wanted to either make a game based on The Three Kingdoms, or the Shinsengumi. In the end, they went with the later, with Sakamoto Ryoma as the protagonist. Masayoshi Yokoyama also explained Tosihiro Nagoshi didn't know much about the historical facts hen working on the game. Similarly, Nagoshi actually didn't know much about Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) before making Hokuto Ga Gotoku too. And only thought it's the story of a "quarrel between brothers" which technically isn't wrong at all.

Yakuza 0 possibly could have been called something else. Main reason they made it is because a lot of fans wanted a game with Majima as the protagonist.

As they reached Yakuza: like A Dragon, Nagoshi reexplained why the game is a JRPG. Mainly how they thought they pretty much did everything they could with Action games. And the protagonist change was a good opportunity to change the rest too.

Another fan question: Do you often change a character's design or setting during development: Nagoshi explained for the main cast of characters they tend to set everything in stone at the beginning so they don't change much. They do increase the screentime of characters who end up very popular like Majima though.

Following next, we had the announcement segment, with new collabs, goods, and events. The official logo for the 15th anniversary was revealed as well.

Yakuza 15th anniversary musk, with a limited edition.

Yakuza Like A Dragon collab in PSO2 Japan coming in January 2021. Note that this wasn't announced for the Western version of PSO2.

MJ collab event.

Shonan no Kaze stream concert coming December 20.

A video message from Shonan no Kaze was shared as well. They congratulated the Yakuza series and its staff for reaching the 15th anniversary, and quickly shared their experience with the games.

The Japanese PS5 version of Yakuza: Like A Dragon will launch on March 2, 2021. It's titled Ryu Ga Gotoku 7 Hikari to Yami no Yukue International. It'll add the English voices too so Japanese players will be able to switch between each. This is the same date as the western release of the PS5 version.

The staff and cast shared some words of thanks as the stream ended.

Masayoshi Yokoyama promised fans that the future games in the series will keep being fun and interesting.

Daisuke Sato: When the first game released, we thought we'd be able to make three games at most. We never expected it to keep going so long and we really have to thank the fans. Like Yokoyama said we'll keep making the series fun and hope we get to keep going and reach the 20th anniversary. Please keep supporting us.

Toshihiro Nagoshi: I'll be repeating what everyone else said. We can only thank the fans for supporting us this long. It's thanks to the fans we can keep challenging ourselves and keep going. I think we work on each game as if it's our last, and one of the reasons we manage to always do our best. I can also confirm we're working on the next game.