The Yakuza franchise will be no more - at least in name. Yakuza will be give a new name: Like a Dragon. Here's why.
So it turns out that Like a Dragon: Ishin will spark a Yakuza revolution - at least in the Western hemisphere: From now on, every Yakuza game will go by the name of "Like a Dragon".
Yakuza Changes Name to "Like a Dragon"
Why the name change? Well, the reason is actually super simple: In Japan, Yakuza has always been known as "Like a Dragon" - ever since the original Like a Dragon was released in 2005. When the game made it over to the west, the name was changed to Yakuza. With the latest release of Ishin, that name change presents a problem: There's no way to really tell that Like a Dragon: Ishin is a part of the Yakuza franchise, but naming a samurai game 'Yakuza' also wouldn't really work.
In order to solve this little problem, the western name will now be a literal translation of the Japanese name (which in Japanese is Ryu ga Gotoku, by the way). This way, all future 'Like a Dragon' games will be more clearly connected with one another, with the upcoming Ishin paving the way. It will be weird to refer to Yakuza by a different name after almost 20 years, but I personally like the change, and it'll be interesting to see if the upcoming Yakuza live-action movie, will also adopt the new title.