G iven it has developed eight major games in the Yakuza series, you could be forgiven for assuming that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio harbours an obsession with Japan’s criminal underworld. While these games could never be mistaken for gritty documentaries – there are far too many spin kicks and rhythm-action disco minigames for that – any player will, from their time slinking around Kamurocho (the series’ approximation of Tokyo’s red-light district, Kabukicho) emerge with a greater understanding of the tone and texture of Japan’s tattooed underbelly.
It’s an assumption RGG Studio’s director, rejects. “Our studio’s main objective is not to depict Japanese yakuza,” he says. “It is to depict people who are
