Yakuza’s Kiryu Likely Won’t Appear in Fighting Games Anytime Soon, Says New Series Producer
Kazuma Kiryu, the iconic protagonist from the Yakuza series, has consistently shown his prowess in brutal street fights, yet has never made an appearance in any fighting games. This decision stems from the original series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi’s stance, who, in a 2020 interview with Red Bull, expressed his desire not to see Kiryu attacking women.
Since Nagoshi departed from Sega in 2021, there has been hope among fans that the series’ new producer, Masayoshi Yokoyama, might have a different perspective. However, in a recent interview with Polygon, Yokoyama shared his views, which suggest that a crossover into the fighting game community (FGC) remains unlikely.
Yokoyama emphasized his broader, multimedia ambitions for the Yakuza characters, favoring cross-medium appearances over video game cameos. With a live-action TV series set to hit Amazon later this year, it’s evident that he is already working toward expanding the franchise’s reach beyond gaming.
Despite interest from other developers for guest appearances, Yokoyama stated, “We receive all kinds of invitations to appear in other games, but we never actually went over to their doorstep and said ‘let us in.’ I think going cross-medium is the better way to go about it.”
While this response may disappoint fans, especially those who have longed to see Kiryu in games like Tekken 8, it seems that Yokoyama’s vision for the franchise is focused on broader, cross-medium storytelling. As a Tekken fan and someone who has been cosplaying as Majima in-game, I can’t help but hold onto hope that one day we might see a Yakuza crossover happen. A girl can dream.
