Like a Dragon Series Won’t Switch to Unreal Engine 5

Recently, the Yakuza series was renamed to Like a Dragon, reflecting its Japanese title and shedding certain preconceived notions about the games. These beat ’em up role-playing games have made Sega a fortune, shipping over 21.3 million copies since its debut in 2005.

Rather than using the popular Unreal Engine, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio uses its own Dragon Engine—and according to a new interview with technical director Yutaka Ita, that isn’t going to change anytime soon.

“When working on the series, we absolutely must not do away with the Dragon Engine, so we will continue to develop our in-house engine. The Dragon Engine concentrates development resources on the functions that are necessary for Like a Dragon and, above all, the speed at which new functions can be added is a big advantage,” Ita explained.

The studio did use Unreal Engine when working on the remake of Like a Dragon: Ishin. Doing this enabled the development team to find areas where the Dragon Engine could be improved.

“In Like a Dragon: Ishin, Unreal Engine made it possible to show shininess in bright daytime environments, and beautifully advanced depth of field,” Ita explained.

Although the Dragon Engine will persevere, newcomers to the studio are still taught how to use Unity and Unreal.

“We have to keep up with the changes in the games industry. Perhaps in the future, if a very good general-purpose game engine comes out, all the game companies in the world may start using it. If Dragon Studio can only use the Dragon Engine at that time, we may no longer be able to compete in this world,” Ita concluded.

The latest entry in the series, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on January 26, 2024.