Yakuza Newsfest: Yakuza 5, Black Panther 2 Teaser & New Studio

We’re not one to normally report on Yakuza, but since we report on all sorts of SEGA stuff now so you shouldn’t be that surprised to be honest.

Recently we’ve had a spate of news updates relating to the Ryu Ga Gotoku franchise that are all pretty major items to discuss. In this week’s Famitsu magazine, series Producer Toshihiro Nagoshi reveals that not only will we get a Yakuza 5 – thus hopefully putting to bed the idea of zombie-shooter Yakuza Of The End being both being part of and the end of the main series. We (or at least the Japanese) will also be getting a sequel to PSP title Yakuza: Black Panther which will be playable at the Tokyo Game Show and a teaser for which was released within the last 24 hours.

Most interestingly though Nahgoshi revealed that the Yakuza Team has been reconstituted into a brand new SEGA internal studio – Ryu ga Gotoku Studio. What’s significant for Sonic fans is that he’s taking Yojiro Ogawa – Producer of Sonic & The Black Knight and highly involved in several other Sonic titles such as Unleashed, Gems Collection, Secret Rings and Sonic 06 with him. Makes you wonder who is actually left at Sonic Team nowadays!