The Nintendo Switch is one of the most popular consoles in the world, and it’s especially dominant in Japan — home of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza series. But don’t expect to see the series on Nintendo’s platform any time soon.
Speaking with IGN as part of a roundtable interview, RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama was blunt in his assessment of the franchise’s prospects on the Switch.
“First of all, whether our games will run on the Switch is probably the first question. The second is, when people are doing things that they don't want to do, and you lose the morale and urge to do it,” Yokoyama said in response to a question from GameSpot, which first reported the story.
“And when it comes to the Switch, it’s kind of a system for a younger audience…it's how we picture it in Japan anyway, for kids. So do we want to put a title, where we're going and picking a fight with the world, and doing all this Yakuza stuff, on a Switch? Will people be happy if we do that? And we're not confident that they will. So that's why we're probably not aiming for it.”
When a reporter pointed out that mature games such as 2016’s Doom are on the platform as well, Yokoyama acknowledged that the Switch is “changing.”
“I am, too, thinking that the perception of the Switch, is changing, and maybe because of that one day we will put it out on the Switch, but still in Japan the image of the Switch is more something you put next to the register at a supermarket or something. You'll line up all those games. If you want to have the Yakuza game right there with all the others…I don't feel like I want to do that yet,” Yokoyama said.
He reiterated that RGG Studio tends to think of itself of “underdogs” and “people of the night world,” implicitly suggesting that the studio’s culture is at odds with the wholesome image put forward by the Switch.
“So yeah, we still think of ourselves as people of the night world. We don't want to be walking around in the daylight with everybody else. For us, it's showing this underground feeling. I say night world, but underground kind of feeling is what we want to do” Yokoyama finished.
While RGG Studio will eschew the Switch for now, it still has plenty of other projects on its plate, including a new Kazuma Kiryu sidestory and Like a Dragon 8. The studio is also looking into pushing on to Unreal Engine 5, which would further separate it from Nintendo’s hardware
RGG Studio’s next game is a remake of Like a Dragon: Ishin, which is due out February 2023.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.