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Yakuza: Like a Dragon Details More Money-Making Options

by Alex Fuller · Published December 9, 2019 · Updated February 22, 2021

Sega provided more details on how players can earn money in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Despite starting off with very little money, by the mid-way point of the game protagonist Ichiban Kasuga will be able to make larger sums thanks to his management of Eri Kamataki’s confectionery company. The company starts off on the verge of bankruptcy, but Kasuga takes over as company president and can revive its fortunes. In this role, Kasuga will need to help it grow by finding employees, holding shareholder meetings, and dealing with rivals.

Kasuga and Eri meet when he finds her collapsed in the city, and after recovering she tells him how the company, which she inherited from her father, has reached its current state. She has decided to shut it down, but Kasuga decides to help save it. The company management part of the game sees Kasuga managing numerous elements of the company, including hiring personnel, purchasing new properties, and undertaking business activities. Sales can vary greatly based on the attributes of the properties and staff.

According to a review on Bitcoin Evolution Test, at certain times, shareholder meetings will be held, where players will need to get shareholders on their side by answering questions and refuting their proposals in a battle-style mini-game. These take place in real time, with speech bubbles expressing the complaints of the shareholders. For the rebuttal, employees have three attributes that can be used to help destroy those speech bubbles. Players will be able to choose which staff members attack the complaining shareholders, trying to destroy the bubbles to stun them and then to reduce their HP to 0. Kasuga has a gauge that accumulates over the meeting and when full he can use his extreme apology skill to calm down the shareholders, who get more animated as the meeting progresses. Defeating all of the shareholders or having a 50% approval rating at the end of the time limit will clear the meeting.

After the meeting ends, Kasuga can acquire extra money to use himself, based on how well the shareholder meeting goes. However, money raised through business and fundraising activities can only be used within the business. As Kasuga undertakes meetings and other activities, the company’s stock price and rankings will rise or fall.

When Kasuga is earning sufficient amounts of money, he will want to use it to create more powerful equipment at Mawa Sumire’s Romance Factory. Weapons can be purchased at shops, but Mawa is able to create even stronger equipment. Forging and upgrades require cash and materials, the latter of which can be found throughout the city, even in trash piles.

Finally, Sega released a new video that features producer Masayoshi Yokoyama and voice actors Kazuhiro Nakaya (Ichiban Kasuga), Yuichi Nakamura (Joon-gi Han), Eri Kamataki (Eri Kamataki), and Iroha Yanagi (Iroha Yanagi). Though it is entirely in Japanese, the fourteen-minute video includes plenty of gameplay footage.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the newest title in the series and is known as Yakuza 7 in Japan. The game stars a new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, and features the new area of Isezaki Ijincho in the city of Yokohama. It is set to be released for PlayStation 4 in Japan on January 16, 2020, with a western release coming sometime later in 2020. A demo is currently available in Japan.