After sixteen years as a franchise, the Sega mainstay ‘Yakuza’ of the early 2000s has decided to drop its name in favour of returning to its original Japanese title of Ryu ga Gotoku or ‘Like a Dragon’.

For many, this may seem an arbitrary or bizarre change in an industry where brand recognition and loyalty are essential for continued sales. However, the reasons behind this change are much more nuanced and interesting than a simple decision to change a title. It bears mentioning from the outset that in Japan, Yakuza was always known as, and is still known as, the ‘Like a Dragon’ series ever since the first game in 2005. And although it centred around the Yakuza, that name was not tagged onto the franchise until the American release the following year. In the decade and a half that has passed since then, the series has evolved beyond its Japanese organised crime setting. Over in Japan, we were treated to historical drama games that have never seen the light of day in the west until now with the reveal of Like a Dragon: Isshin. 

Yakuza as a franchise has only majorly risen to prominence in the last few years through the influence of YouTube and meme culture finding the mix of over-the-top combat and at times hysterical side quests endearing. It set the stage for a positive reception when the seventh game in the series dropped back in 2020, with a full English dub cast not seen since the original. Even acting legends like George Takei of Star Trek fame lent his voice talent to the game showing that the series was coming out of the shadows of a niche cult classic to being seen as a well-loved franchise here in the west.

And it is with this love pairing with the ever-broadening appreciation in the west for Japanese and anime culture that the choice to make the name change back to ‘Like a Dragon’ lies for the latest game in the series.

The Yakuza name was a relic of the early 2000s western gaming industries’ belief that Japanese games had to be tweaked and localised to be appealing to a western audience. But now in 2022, the franchise recognition is based around the characters and style of the game regardless of if it involves the Yakuza or not. Both of the Judgment games take place in the world of Yakuza yet forgo the franchise title for western release to go on to critical acclaim. And now with the announcement of Like a Dragon: Isshin, games that the west was never able to officially play are finally making their way across the pacific for their audience to enjoy.

What does this mean for the future?

For many years, the Japanese gaming industry has been strangely closed off to the west for a lot of its more niche titles, based upon the idea that they won’t sell well in the west so it is better to keep them exclusive to Japan where they are guaranteed a profit. That has changed, no longer is Japanese games culture seen as a strange cult following that everyone would rather shirk in favour of playing the newest Call of Duty. It is an accepted part of western entertainment now, and Japanese companies like Sega are willing to take the chance in broadening the games they view as sellable to the west. Reverting to ‘Like a Dragon’ for western release is a sign that some parts of the Japanese games industry no longer seek to cloister their games behind the notion of ‘is this too Japanese for the west?’

Hopefully, more companies will take Sega’s example in bringing official releases to long-desired games moving forwards.

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The post Yakuza/Like a Dragon 8: What dropping the Yakuza means? first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Do you want the good news first or the bad news?

In a recent tweet by Geoff Keighley (executive producer and host of The Game Awards), he claimed that ‘beyond it’s nominations, I can confirm Activision Blizzard will not be part of this year’s The Game Awards’. This is largely due to rampant allegations of harassment and a toxic work culture at Activision Blizzard.

The brave souls coming out against Activision Blizzard has resulted in employee walkouts, a California lawsuit for worker’s rights violations, protests, public condemnations from the big 3 game companies and the loss of talented workers set for development on Activision Blizzard projects. And not to inhale my own phallus, but of all my thumbnails, my ‘BlizzCon Blizzcancelled‘ one isn’t half bad if I do say so myself.

The Washington Post interviewed Geoff Keighley, wherein he claimed that he wanted to address potentially removing Activision Blizzard from The Game Awards ‘without hurting the developers or employees’, which is fair enough. Many of the greatest films and novels were made by people of unsavory moral character, and even then, the work of Activision’s downtrodden employees shouldn’t suffer because of the actions of the company’s abusers.

Unfortunately, Activision Blizzard may have some limited influence at The Game Awards. Rob Kostich, (new president of Activision Blizzard) serves on The Game Awards’ board of advisors. The board doesn’t decide which games get nominations and awards, but keeping one of Activision’s head staff is a slightly sus gamer move, to use parliamentary language.

I mean, I don’t know the guy, but let’s not mince words, it’s a little darkly funny that the top leaders of Activision Blizzard have hilariously similar names! At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a real life ‘Bobbert Kotique‘ who I’d have to settle out of a lawsuit for unintentional slander!

‘There is no place for abuse, harassment or predatory practices in any company or any community, we all need to work together to build a better and a more inclusive environment so everyone feels safe to build the world’s best games’ – Geoff Keighley.

Do we have any specifics on how Geoff Keighley wants to support the game devs and employees of Activision without condoning the company’s practices? Kinda… And by kinda, I mean not really (as far as I’m aware). But, I am nothing if not a man open of mind and occasionally dumb of ass, so in the spirit of good faith: Geoff Keighley, if you’re reading this, here is my suggestion for how to include effected contributors to Activision games without praising the company or it’s abusers as a whole.

Name names: At the end of the day, it takes a village to raise a child. When discussing games from Activision (if they make it into the awards lineup), research the key named developers, see who contributed to what, give a little spotlight to those who contributed to the game rather than “by Activision” (which is admittedly a pitfall I’ve fallen into on occasion). I understand The Game Awards will be dropping in a few days, so I may be asking a little much, but hopefully this is food for thought for next year… Or maybe there won’t even be an Activision Blizzard next year, in which case, no trouble at’all a’tall.

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The post Activision At The Game Awards: Absent or “Absent”? first appeared on Get2Gaming.