Speaking at Microsoft’s London XO19 event last year, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said that the company “been working on improving the release of Japanese series such as Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy and Yakuza on Xbox.” The Xbox and Japan have mixed like oil and water for almost the entirety of Microsoft’s time in the console business, but that hasn’t meant there wasn’t potential for Japanese titles getting big releases in the West. That promise appears to be coming one step closure to reality as recent ESRB and PEGI ratings reveal that, for now, the much-anticipated RPG Yakuza: Like A Dragon will be coming to PS4 and the Xbox Series X environment, but doesn’t yet list the PS5.
While not an explicit confirmation that PS5 won’t get the title (after all, it will be supported automatically via backwards compatibility), the news that Like A Dragon won’t come to both next-gen devices isn’t entirely a shock given the wording and verbiage used by Microsoft in its promotion. Being touted as “optimized for Xbox Series X,” the Yakuza: Like A Dragon website is full of descriptions about enhanced features. “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness, and framerates up to 120FPS.”
The good news is that Yakuza: Like A Dragon is still seeing a PS4 release in the West. Whether or not it gets an explicit enhanced PS5 version or is simply playable via backwards compatibility remains to be confirmed by Sony and Sega, but this rating listing so far doesn’t bode well for the possibility.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon is coming to PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC this fall.
