Live-Action Yakuza Movie in Development With Sega

Following the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie Sega is now developing a live-action version of the Yakuza franchise. This isn’t the first time Sega has brought the wacky crime based action-RPG to live on the big screen though.

In 2007 Sega, ArtPort and CJ Entertainment produced Ryū ga Gotoku Gekijōban or Like a Dragon: The Movie. If that sounds familiar it’s because the latest title in the long-running Yakuza series that includes Yakuza 0 to 6 is called Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The 2007 Yakuza film didn’t gain a lot of popularity outside of Japan despite being directed by the legendary Takeshi Mike.

The movie was eventually released to the west as Yakuza: Like a Dragon, not to be confused with the upcoming video game of the same name featuring a different protagonist to Kazuma Kiryu. Check out the trailer below.

Yakuza the game has become extremely popular over the last few years. What was originally a niche title exclusive to the Sony PlayStation has now seen massive success on other platforms with it’s amazing port to the PC and release to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. For those interested in an introduction to the Yakuza series I recommend Yakuza 0 which makes sense chronologically despite being released after Yakuza 5.

More information will be provided in episode 65 of Podcast Versus Player next week. You can listen to it HERE.