Summary

  • Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be 1.5 times larger than Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.
  • RGG Studio Director Masayoshi Yokoyama noted that spinoff games in the series are becoming larger than initially intended.
  • Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be released on February 28, 2025 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Franchise developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has confirmed that Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be larger than last year's Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. A spinoff side story featuring the beloved character Goro Majima, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was recently unveiled by RGG Studio. The new game takes place one year after the events of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and will take Goro Majima on an unexpected swashbuckling journey.

Recent years have seen Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio attempt to release smaller spinoff titles in between the franchise's larger mainline entries. Last year it released a Like a Dragon: Ishin remake and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. The latter featured series icon Kazuma Kiryu in a spy action romp around Osaka's Sotenbori district and helped connect his story from Yakuza 6: The Song of Life to his brief appearance in 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon ahead of Infinite Wealth.

Related
Rumor: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii May Point To More Gaiden Games

A recent rumor suggests Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be a vehicle to a future Gaiden subseries to build upon the mainline games.

As part of a cast interview at RGG Summit 2024, RGG Studio Director Masayoshi Yokoyama confirmed that Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be about 1.5 times larger than Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Yokoyama referenced Honolulu City from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and a new area named Mad Lantis, which will both be explorable areas in Majima's pirate adventure. He went on to mention how these "Gaiden" side story games are becoming larger than initially intended.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii to Be 1.5 Times Larger Than Like a Dragon Gaiden

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name wasn't incredibly large. The game's explorable areas were made up of Sotenbori and "The Castle," a small Vegas-like party town built on a container ship off Japan's coast. Neither of these areas are very big, so while Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be larger than Gaiden, it still won't be massive, and certainly won't come close to Infinite Wealth's size, which includes Honolulu, Ijincho, and Kamurocho. It's important to remember that Yokoyama is strictly speaking of the physical size of the game world and not the game's length. With that said, despite being larger than Like a Dragon Gaiden, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii could still wind up being similar in length.

The recent mainline titles Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth are quite lengthy, and even RGG's smaller spinoff games are getting larger. Fans don't have long to wait to dive into Goro Majima's solo pirate adventure, as Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is set to release on February 28, 2025 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.