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2024.8.29 Report: Examining the trajectory of “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” an entertainment for adults that has grown to be one of SEGA’s flagship IPs, and its further evolution! [Part 1]
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2024.8.29
Examining the trajectory of “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” an entertainment for adults that has grown to be one of SEGA's flagship IPs, and its further evolution! [Part 1]
On December 8, 2005, a new title which made a huge impact on the gaming industry was launched — “Ryu Ga Gotoku (“Like a Dragon” in Western countries). At a time when video games featuring righteous protagonists in science fiction and fantasy worlds were the mainstream, “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” set in the Japanese underworld and depicting serious human dramas of lust, love, compassion and betrayal, represented a world that video games had never been able to enter before.
“Ryu Ga Gotoku” captured the hearts of many fans with its unprecedented ambiance. Since then, the title has been continuously released not only as an official sequel series, but also as a spin-off and remastered version, creating numerous hits and establishing a solid position as an entertainment game for adults. In recent years, through strategies such as multi-platform development and simultaneous worldwide releases, the series has expanded its overseas fan base and grown to become one of SEGA’s flagship IPs. Furthermore, the latest title “Ryu Ga Gotoku 8 (Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth),” which was released simultaneously worldwide on January 26, 2024, achieved cumulative worldwide sales of one million copies in just one week. It became the fastest-selling console video game title in the “Ryu Ga Gotoku” series.
How has “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” a very niche genre of video game entertainment for adults, become one of SEGA’s flagship IPs with a global fan base? How will it continue to evolve and innovate in the future? We interviewed the developers of the series, Masayoshi Yokoyama, Director of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Executive Producer, and Hiroyuki Sakamoto, Like a Dragon series Chief Producer.
The interview will be divided into two parts.
Games that adults can truly immerse themselves in
--How did the planning and development of “Ryu Ga Gotoku” begin?
Yokoyama:
In March 2001, SEGA withdrew from the video game hardware business and became a software developer providing games for other companies’ video game consoles. This meant that the game titles we developed would be played on other companies’ consoles, such as PlayStation. In other words, we were now competing on the same playing field with competing game developers, who had never directly fought before.
On the other hand, by developing games for other companies’ consoles, the number of owners of compatible game consoles and the age range of players would expand dramatically. We therefore thought that SEGA’s games must sell even more and the global hits would be generated.
However, we were confronted with the reality that this was nothing more than overconfidence. After around two years of providing games for other companies’ consoles, we realized for the first time that we had not been able to develop games that video game users wanted. This realization germinated the concept of “Ryu Ga Gotoku.”
We were in our late 20s at the time, and we had a stereotype somewhere in our minds that video games were play for children and, while we were making video games as part of our work, we ourselves did not play them that much. In the first place, there were not many games that we wanted to play at the time. The catchphrase for the first “Ryu Ga Gotoku” was “For adults who are tired of video games,” and that was the exact phrase that applied to us; we were tired of games ourselves.
We were convinced that there were adults in the world who had the same thoughts as we did. The starting point of our concept was to create a video game that these adults would want to play again, in other words, a game that we ourselves could truly immerse ourselves in. In a way, this project was the antithesis of ourselves.
With these thoughts in mind, we began to think about what sorts of video games we as adults are willing to play. The clue came from the shelves of video rental stores, which were very popular at the time. Romantic, science fiction, thriller, and horror movies were almost identical to the genre categories of video games, but there was only one genre that had not yet been explored in video games. That was the so-called “V-cinema” genre, which depicted the Japanese underworld, etc.
Despite its enduring popularity, especially among men, the “V-cinema” genre remained untapped in the video game industry. We thought we were sure to succeed if we pioneered this genre. At the time, targeting a genre supported by 30% of the population was the standard practice in the video game industry, but we focused on a niche genre supported by just 1% of the population. Japan’s population is about 120 million, so even 1% of the population accounts for 1.2 million people. If we could create a video game that would be bought by 100% of that 1% of the population, we would sell more than one million copies. That was the concept behind.
Starting point for a culture encouraging challenges
--The production of the first “Ryu Ga Gotoku” started around 2003. What was the production process like?
Yokoyama:
Since there was no precedent for this kind of video game, we started by examining how to create a game with a hard-boiled story. Initially, I was going to create a synopsis as reference material and then ask a professional writer of mystery novels to write a scenario based on it, but I couldn’t organize a synopsis well and ended up writing the entire scenario (laughs). Then we asked Mr. Seishu Hase, the author of such masterpieces as “The Nightless Castle,” to supervise the story, and I took charge of the scenario.
In addition to the scenarios, the entire process was a series of trial and error. “Ryu Ga Gotoku” has not only parts played by users but also “event scenes” in which characters talk to each other and express their emotions. Since we had no experience in creating such footage, we first needed to figure out the necessary tasks, such as “Do we need storyboards?” and “Who should play the characters?” We then contacted every video production company and talent agency, gathered the necessary personnel, and just tried our hand at making them. We were just groping in the dark.
--I heard that, as well as such difficulties in production, you faced a wave of opposition from both inside and outside the company to the release of “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” which is set in the underworld and depicts a red-light district.
Yokoyama:
Due to the theme of the game, even platform manufacturers were initially reluctant to release “Ryu Ga Gotoku.” We also negotiated with various companies to obtain permission to use real billboards and neon signs in order to realistically recreate a red-light district within the game, but most of them turned us down. Even the internal response from the internal was negative, the one and only person who backed us, saying “give it a try” was Hajime Satomi, then Chairman and President (now Chairman) of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS INC. at the time.
In October 2004 SEGA and Sammy merged to become SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS, and Sammy’s founder, Chairman Satomi, was the new chairman of SEGA. This is just my guess, but he is a person with strong leadership and is so broad-minded that he wanted to help us, who were developing video game as their own antithesis and taking on the challenge of making a video game facing huge hurdles like “Ryu Ga Gotoku.”
What I can say for sure, at least, is that “Ryu Ga Gotoku” is a title that could not have been created without the merger of SEGA and Sammy at the time, and without Chairman Satomi as our boss. There are now many companies that encourage challenges, but at the time companies prepared to support a challenge of this scale were probably the exception rather than the rule. His spirit of encouraging employees to take on challenges is firmly rooted as corporate culture now.
Finding narrow admissible windows toward launch
--Thanks to Chairman Satomi's support, production of “Ryu Ga Gotoku” was continued, but what were the hurdles before it could be launched?
Sakamoto：
The ethical aspect was one of the first major hurdles. Prior to the release of a video game, console manufacturers and even the TV stations that would be running the commercials will review it based on their own ethical standards. “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” which is set in an underworld and a red-light district, received an enormous amount of indication for its visual expressions and language. After receiving all of the suggestions that the game could not be released as it was, we thought about how we could release it and find that narrow admissible windows. We repeated this process over and over again, and improved it into a work that could be released.
--The first “Ryu Ga Gotoku” was produced in 2005. I understand that there are many differences from today in terms of technology, but were there any technical hurdles?
Sakamoto：
“Ryu Ga Gotoku”, which is modeled after the largest red-light district in Japan, is a video game in which an overwhelming number of people appear. Today, thanks to crowd control simulations using AI, we can depict realistic crowds relatively smoothly, but at the time there were not such tools, and we were trying something we had never created before. So we had to steadily place all the people walking in the city one by one on the screen and specify movements one by one through trial and error.
Yokoyama:
With the console specifications of the time, there was also a problem that if each person was created too much in details and placed on a single screen as a crowd, the data volume would grow too large and place an excessive load on the console processing. So we took a number of technical approaches to lighten the hardware process; for example, the number of polygons of characters in the near view was increased to create a detailed image, but the number of polygons of those in the far view was reduced to the limit, or any characters in the area that were off the screen at the moment the camera turned in a different direction were removed.
Developing “Ryu Ga Gotoku” into a solid IP
--December 8, 2005, “Ryu Ga Gotoku" was released with the exciting catchphrase, "For people who are tired of video games. And for people who love video games.” What was the initial response to the release of the game?
Yokoyama:
I did not have any sense of accomplishment when the game was completed. To be honest, I didn’t know. But as a creator, I thought that we had made something good, something that had never been done before.
Sakamoto：
I was just sure that we had created a strange game, a game that is definitely unique. (Laughs)
Yokoyama:
In reality, the response was not so good when it was first released. However, among those working in the red-light district, especially in Kabukicho, Shinjuku in Tokyo, there was a lot of talk that there was a game with this kind of theme. And when they tried it, they found it interesting and the game’s reputation spread by word of mouth. Generally the sales of a video game increase rapidly at the time of its release and then decline steadily, but “Ryu Ga Gotoku” did not sell so well at the time of its release, instead continuing to sell consistently like a novel that continues to be reprinted.
--I heard that you had already started work on the second one when the first game was released.
Yokoyama:
Since the trends in the entertainment industry are very fast, we wanted to release a sequel before people forget about the game, in order to make it a solid IP. If we would do, we wanted to release the sequel on the same day one year later. However, at the time, trying to release a game with the scale of “Ryu Ga Gotoku” once a year was an idea bordering on insanity. We couldn’t make this game without a scenario, so the day after the first “Ryu Ga Gotoku” was released, I immediately started writing the scenario for the sequel. While everyone else was resting, saying, “I’m glad it’s over,” I was on a business trip to the Kansai region to do research for the next one. I was convinced that whether it would end up being a one-hit wonder or become a series depended upon this second one, so I pushed it with all my might. Developing “Ryu Ga Gotoku” into a solid IP by quickly releasing the second game and keeping the momentum going —this was our strategy and commitment to “Ryu Ga Gotoku.”
Feeling stuck in a routine at “Ryu Ga Gotoku 3”, the third numbering title released
--The development team's firm determination led to the release of “Ryu Ga Gotoku 2” on December 7, 2006, just one year after the release of the first one. Furthermore, "Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan!," a spin-off, was released in March 2008 and “Ryu Ga Gotoku 3” in February 2009. What were your thoughts and strategies behind each of these games?
Yokoyama:
For “Ryu Ga Gotoku 2” the essential goal of releasing it one year after the first game was to establish it as a series, and it felt as though we had somehow managed to get there. Then, just before the release of this second title, the PlayStation 3 was launched. Since future “Ryu Ga Gotoku” series would be developed for this new console, we needed to examine various aspects, such as what had evolved with the PlayStation 3 and what kind of expression was possible.
However, the development of a video game on the same scale as the first and second “Ryu Ga Gotoku” on the PlayStation 3 would cost an enormous amount of money. So, we decided to produce “Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan!,” a spin-off set in samurai era on the PlayStation 3. We first raised the recognition of “Ryu Ga Gotoku” with the first and second titles, then attempted to tackle the new genre of historical drama with “Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan!” and tested the technological features of the PlayStation 3 technology. After gaining new possibilities and technologies ourselves, we began to produce the third numbering title.
As such, “Ryu Ga Gotoku 3” was produced with an eye toward the future development of the series, but the struggle to maintain a certain freshness had already begun. The “Ryu Ga Gotoku” series is a drama centering on the protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, and the story unfolds in different settings for each game: Tokyo for the first, Tokyo and Osaka for the second, and Tokyo and Okinawa for the third. Therefore, when a new “Ryu Ga Gotoku” was to be released, attention was focused on which city would be the setting for next game. I was beginning to wonder if it was enough to just change the setting and continue the story of the protagonist, or if we needed to break out of this routine.
To excite yourself
--With that in mind, you released “Ryu Ga Gotoku 4: Densetsu wo Tsugu Mono” (the “Ryu Ga Gotoku 4”) in March 2010. What measures did you take to break out of the routine?
Yokoyama:
Unlike previous “Ryu Ga Gotoku” series while the location is Tokyo only, we added a financier, an escaped convict, and a detective to Kazuma Kiryu, the protagonist of the series, making a total of four main characters. This enabled players to experience a multi-layered story from the perspectives of each of the four characters and to enjoy battle action of the four different styles. In other words, the previous “Ryu Ga Gotoku” games had a single protagonist, but the fourth game is an omnibus work with all four protagonists.
-- About two and a half years later, in December 2012, “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5: Yume Kanaeshi Mono” (the “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5”) was released. This is a large-scale game that takes place in the five major cities of Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka, and the story unfolds from the perspectives of five protagonists.
Yokoyama:
As we began to develop “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5”, the development team felt that the “Ryu Ga Gotoku” series had to come to an end here and should be reborn anew. In that sense, we created “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5” as the total culmination of our efforts. The production was particularly hard First of all, the game takes place in five major cities and has five main characters, both of which were the most in the series. In addition to action battles, we packed in as many games as we could to fit the settings of the protagonists, including racing battles, hunting missions in the snowy mountains, idol-training simulation, and batting battles.
Sakamoto：
In other words, we incorporated all the variations of the game into a single piece of software, so the production was one struggle after another in terms of technical aspects as well as workload. However, I don’t think we compromised halfway at all; we incorporated everything that looked interesting.
--Why did you stick to it so hard?
Yokoyama:
As I mentioned, if you keep making a series of works, you may fall into a routine, that is, you may become bored. That is why I believe that when creating a new sequel, it is necessary to create a project or mechanism that excites you yourself as a creator. It is of course important to avoid boredom among development team members, but in fact, the development team members are also our first market research target. Many of them become developers because they love games, so if the project pleases them, it will often please the market too. By continually thinking about doing something to excite ourselves and the development team members, good ideas are born. “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5” is an example of this.
We did everything we should do
-- So far, we have talked about the “Ryu Ga Gotoku” series from “Ryu Ga Gotoku” to “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5”. You said the first game was launched against the backdrop of internal and external opposition, but did anything change as it became established as an IP and grew in popularity and recognition?
Yokoyama:
At the time of the first game, without the efforts of Chairman Satomi, we would not have been able to have famous Japanese actors appear as game characters in the game or realize any corporate tie-ups. However, as we built up a track record of success and trust, people and businesses naturally began to come to us from about “Ryu Ga Gotoku 3”. We held auditions to be a model of the character appeared in the game toward the general publics from “Ryu Ga Gotoku 4” and we collaborated with local businesses, including retailers and restaurants in the five large cities to appear in the game with “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5”.
From around the development of “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5”, most of the actors we negotiated with already knew the “Ryu Ga Gotoku” series so I didn’t have to explain the content to them. Conversely, the number of actors who offered to appear in the game increased. In the past, I used to feel nothing but gratitude to the actors for appearing in the game, but now I feel a sense of responsibility, or pressure, to make sure that the game will benefit the actors who appeared in it. That may be the biggest change.
Looking back on “Ryu Ga Gotoku” to “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5”, we were able to establish “Ryu Ga Gotoku” as a solid IP by continuing to release the series over a short period of time to increase its recognition and popularity, and by actively conducting a variety of promotions that would not be done for normal video games. In this sense, I could say that we did everything we should do by “Ryu Ga Gotoku 5”, but I also felt that we had reached a certain limit. So, in order to further evolve and innovate “Ryu Ga Gotoku,” we took on a series of new initiatives.
(Continue in Part 2)
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In Part 2, we asked about the new initiatives of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, including the development of the new engine for “Ryu Ga Gotoku 6: Inochi no Uta” and the background behind the change in the protagonist and genre for “Ryu Ga Gotoku 7: Hikari to Yami no Yukue.”
Please continue to read Part 2.
