The Yakuza series has gotten so big for Sega that it now has two entries in development simultaneously. PSP's Black Panther Yakuza New Chapter is speeding towards its September release. This week's Famitsu reveals that, simultaneous with that, series director Toshihiro Nagoshi and the Yakuza development staff have been working away on another entry.

Similar to past Yakuza unveils, this one comes in the form of an interview with Nagoshi. Expectedly, Nagoshi was able to provide just a few vague details on the new game. He didn't even share a name, so we'll just call the game "Yakuza New Project" for now.

Development on this new Yakuza game has been progressing simultaneous with Black Panther, Nagoshi told the magazine. Like Yakuza 3 and 4, the new game is set for PlayStation 3.

Different from Black Panther, the new title looks like it will be a primary entry in the series. Nagoshi said that while Black Panther inherits many of the elements of the Yakuza series, he wanted it to be built up as a separate game from the series.

Nagoshi wouldn't commit to the new game being called Yakuza 5 (or Ryu ga Gotoku 5, as it would be called in Japanese). He promised a game that would do honor to the Yakuza series name, but said that he could not go into details at present.

The timing for sharing a "clear outline" about the game will come at this year's Tokyo Game Show, he said. This is set for September and is a typical showing point for new Yakuza games.

Majima Goro, a popular character from past Yakuza titles, will be a playable character in the new game. Nagoshi said that he'd wanted to make Majima into a main character for some time, as the character's unique personality offers the chance for a unique story and expression. In the new game, they're working on giving us a closer look at the Majima character, without losing the elements that make the character who he is.

The only bit of media shown in the Famitsu interview is a piece of artwork for Majima. The art shows Majima, with his trademark eye patch, holding a machine gun like he's ready to fire.

Nagoshi seemed to be careful in describing Goro as a "playable character." This seems to leave the possibility for multiple playable characters, similar to Yakuza 4, although Nagoshi did not make any mention of this.

Outside of Majima's role, Nagoshi shared a few high level details on the game. Asked about the game's concept and keyword, he replied with "Destruction." The three pillars of the Yakuza series, drama, adventure and battle, will be unchanged, but they'll be trying out new types of play around those elments. "We want to show evidence of 'there are still these possibilities for the Yakuza series,'" said Nagoshi. "We won't be throwing out the past methods of enjoyment, but we will be taking a scalpel to the fundamentals of the game systems."

Whatever changes are being made, it looks like the development staff has gotten into some heated arguments. Nagoshi joked that while the staff are all perfectionists and tend to throw out their opinion, they've never done so at this level.

Famitsu may have got the first word on the new Yakuza game in this week's issue, but it turns out that Sega has already started promoting it. Remember that hostess audition they started a couple of months back? Nagoshi revealed in the interview that it was actually for this game rather than for Black Panther.

Considering that it doesn't even have a name, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Nagoshi wouldn't commit to a release time frame for the new game. He'd only say "While I can't give a release time frame yet, we're working to deliver it at a time Yakuza series fans will want."

got inggerish ka?

Game is out on the PSN store btw.

Where you people on the hype train?!

First time trying to buy games digitally on PS3, don't see Yakuza 5 nor Bayonetta. Any help?

Which region? US PSN?

Playing already. Duh.

Playing already. Duh.

You gonna 100% this too?

You gonna 100% this too?

I found out one scene Kiryu needs to do IT Support......da heck? XD

any chance this will come out as physical version perhaps?

I remember there's this one game (not Yakuza though) that's only available in digital version in NA region PSN, but it came out in physical version in Asia

afraid that will be the case with this

if not, I will just buy the digital then

I already asked Sega rep twice, they said no each time.

Possibility very low, since they've already stopped printing Yakuza 5 discs in the first place.

One thing that sorts of disappoint me in Y5 is... The HEAT actions. It's toned down, not as brutal as it was in Y4 and even Y3, weird. There's no blood, no bruises either... Again weird.

It may sound like a small little thing, but yeah.. Y5 doesn't feel as viscious as the other games, oddly.

yeah, I feel ya

it's a YAKUZA game after all, and everybody knows what yakuza does 

Holy crap, i thought this was just a simple translation job for Sega, but it wasn't the case at all.

The Japanese history question in the substory is changed to a world war one question. And the English question ends up being a Latin question. Thank God I knew what Carpe Diem is from Robin Williams.

IIRC and rumor has it, Atlus helped in the translation. Y5 has the best localization yet in the series and that's what make it so good despite some head scratching flaws.

do we need to play from yakuza1 to know the whole story?

you can play Kiwami. That the remake of 1. And Y6 demo is so gooooooooooood. 

I got the yakuza4 game for ps3 psn plus but find it hard to connect. Is this series always require to have a continue play through the play the latest installment.

No, not confirmed sadly.

enggerish versyun out ka?

PSN versyun saja der. Yang tu bulan 12 lepas dah kuar dah. heheh.

saiya rasa itu US PSN saja keh?

Damn bro, you insane.  

I'll update thread closer to Yakuza 0 release.

Kyo, is your copy a digital copy? I can't download it off the store.

I think they should just restart this series with another character. Or this franchise won't be able to gain more market share, for normal user that never play this game before they won't want to try it becoz they know nothing about the game back story which is more than 10years long running.

They should do it like GTA, or FF just start each round.

They already tried it in 4 and 5. No one liked the new characters except Akiyama.

The whole reason Y6 will primarily be about Kiryu (not saying there won't be other important characters, because there are) is because people were b!tching left and right with 4 and 5 having too little Kiryu presence.

Apparently VF5 will be playable in Club Sega? Hot damn if true.

yeah it was reported. Final showdown mode I think.

Does yakuza 5 hv physical disc ?

How come none of the reviewers mentioned about the epic Call a Date mini game. haha.

because those so called reviewers are either SJWs or feminazis who only know how to play Call of Duty. 

That's weird. Maybe, not yet because it's not official release date yet?

btw, I heard some people say Yakuza 0 is running on a higher resolution on the pro. I wonder if that's true? 

there's no more or less screen tearing when panning the camera.
resolution wise I think its a bit sharper but it already looks good on the normal ps4.