Although the surprise was somewhat diluted by the slip-up a few days ago, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio isn't about to let up on celebrating the 20th anniversary of its most beloved franchise, Yakuza/Like a Dragon. Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama kicked off the event streamed last night, promptly unveiling the release of Yakuza Kiwami 3, the "best possible iteration" of Yakuza 3, originally released in 2009.
In addition to showing us just how good this version looks (more or less in the same quality vein as Yakuza 0: Director's Cut did a few months ago), Yakuza Kiwami 3 will be accompanied by a brand new piece of content called Dark Ties, all new and centred around the figure of this game's villain, Mine. To talk about this new content, Kiwami and Dark Ties director Ryosuke Horii began by saying that he's reworked Yakuza 3 from the ground up to give it the Kiwami treatment, as well as adding new cinematics and voice lines. More mini-games have also been added, as well as a new battle mode for Kiryu called Ryukyu, inspired by the martial arts of Okinawa, where much of his story takes place.
Dark Ties adds further context to Yakuza Kiwami 3's story by following antagonist Yoshitaka Mine, his entry into the criminal underworld and his rise in the Tojo clan as leader of the Hakuho clan. Mine moves around the Mamurocho neighbourhood and will be able to perform all sorts of activities there, as well as having his own boxing-inspired fighting style, in addition to the Savage mode. Along with the Dark Ties story comes a coliseum-style fighting mode called Infernal Arena.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties will arrive on 12 February 2026 for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series, PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch 2, and will be localised into new languages, following on from the release of Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 on Nintendo Switch 2 on 13 November.
Yakuza 0 Director's Cut drops temporary exclusivity on Switch 2
It was also confirmed at the RGG Summit 2025 in September that Yakuza 0 Director's Cut will drop its temporary exclusivity on Nintendo Switch 2 (since it arrived as the console's launch title), and will also be released in both digital and physical versions on PC, Xbox Series and PlayStation 5.
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