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Just one week after launch, Sega announced that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth had topped 1 million units sold, making it the series’ fastest-selling title to date. More recently, Ryu Ga Gotoku studio’s executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama commented on how the latest title has performed differently to the usual sales pattern for Like a Dragon games (source: 4Gamer).

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has broken many records for the almost 20-year-old series – one being the sheer volume of its content (which Yokoyama has described as “monster-class”). It is also the series’ most well-reviewed title, with a current Metacritic score of 89. The latest Yakuza game quickly became the fastest-selling title of the series too, to a degree that even the developers had apparently not expected.

In a statement to 4Gamer, Like a Dragon series producer and RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama explained just how unprecedented Infinite Wealth’s performance has been so far: “We gave a press release about how (Infinite Wealth) sold over 1 million copies worldwide in one week following its release, but it’s really a speed we have never experienced before.” He adds, “Like a Dragon games sell in the long run, rather than right off the bat. This has been the case ever since the series’ early days. It has an adult player base, after all, so there’s no rush, you know? People hear about the games from their friends, they happen to come across them, and that’s how the titles grow. That’s why the way (Infinite Wealth) started off was quite surprising to me.”

Due to the nature of Yakuza games and their target audience, the Like a Dragon developers are not used to expecting explosive sales immediately upon launch, but rather a steady accumulation over time. However, it seems that Infinite Wealth has changed this pattern with its unexpectedly high launch sales. Furthermore, sales in Japan and Asia seem to have made up a big part of this momentum, as Yokoyama notes, “The game is incredibly strong in Japan. Sales in (the rest of) Asia are also quite strong, but the momentum in Japan is even greater than in the past.”

Incidentally, Yokoyama had made similar observations about Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased his Name (which released in November 2023) in a past interview with us, noting, “Domestic sales this time around are astonishing, I can really feel the series’ popularity reigniting in Japan. Gaiden might be our best-selling title in recent times.”

While the Like a Dragon series has been increasingly popular on the West over the years (particularly since the largely successful Steam release of Yakuza 0), it seems the Japanese market has once again become a significant driving force of sales. Yokoyama has previously commented that in terms of game content, he does not intend to make concessions in order to be more global-friendly, “(…) this is not to say that I am in any way conscious of the overseas market. The staff over at the Sega overseas offices always tell me ‘Don’t change anything.’ (…) A lot of people are warning me not to be influenced in weird ways, and I place a high importance on that too.” This attitude may ironically be what has contributed to the series’ worldwide growth, as fans of Japanese video games tend to seek out the same qualities Japanese players do.

Although Yokoyama jokingly comments, “Compared to our other recent releases, Infinite Wealth is on a whole different level. I wonder what it does so well?” in his statement to 4gamer, the developers seem to know what they’re doing.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth dev surprised by unprecedented speed of sales and big change in sales pattern - AUTOMATON WEST

RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama has commented on the speed of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth's sales, which are record-breaking.

automaton-media.com

 

[Skifi28]

Not trying to change stuff to appeal to the west is the best thing a Japanese developer can do, glad they realised it themselves.

 

[Kataploom]

Not trying to change stuff to appeal to the west is the best thing a Japanese developer can do, glad they realised it themselves.

Of course, but Nintendo and monolith soft seem to never understand it, those who play very Japanese games do so mostly looking for that Japanese flavor that westerns cannot and will not reproduce, therefore Japanese characters and locations names should have been kept, specially in Xenoblade 2 where it's just embarrassingly disappointing.

I hope the Like a Dragon case sets the proper example of this.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Deserved

 

[STARSBarry]

Not trying to change stuff to appeal to the west is the best thing a Japanese developer can do, glad they realised it themselves.

 

[Skifi28]

As long as they keep the Japanese dub, they can do whatever they like with the English one to be honest. There is only one recommended way to experience games like these.

 

[OverHeat]

I did my part,great game.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Still chipping away at it, currently in chapter 4. I don't know what year we'll have when I can move on to P3R.

 

[StereoVsn]

As long as they keep the Japanese dub, they can do whatever they like with the English one to be honest. There is only one recommended way to experience games like these.

Not for most folks in the West as they will listen to the dubbed version.

 

[Skifi28]

Not for most folks in the West as they will listen to the dubbed version.

Well, that's on them. The option is there though.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

I haven't played this yet, but after finishing Lost Judgement last night i hope they do another Judgement game too!!!

 

[FingerBang]

As long as they keep the Japanese dub, they can do whatever they like with the English one to be honest. There is only one recommended way to experience games like these.

Don't let dunkey hear ya!

 

[Physiognomonics]

I wish I liked to play those games. But for me there is way too much cutscenes and not enough of a game.

 

[Moriah20]

I wish I liked to play those games. But for me there is way too much custcenes and not enough of a game.

The games have tons of cutscenes yes, but they have even more "game". 100%ing a yakuza game can take well over 100 hours and most of that will be pure gameplay.