Today Xbox dropped a meaty interview with Yakuza’s series chief producer Masayoshi Yokoyama. He fields a few questions fans might have about working with the Xbox and bringing Yakuza: Like a Dragon to Next Gen hardware.
A lot of the interview is focused on development on next gen and what that means for performance:
Q: What excites you most about developing and bringing Yakuza: Like a Dragon to life on next-generation hardware?
A: Being able to develop Yakuza: Like a Dragon on Xbox Series X gave us an opportunity to develop the game at a much higher performance level than we’ve ever been able achieve before. Seeing the game run at a smooth 60 FPS gameplay experience or in native 4K with near-instant load times is incredible.
Q: In addition to benefiting from the power and performance of Xbox Series X for quicker load times etc. what Xbox Series X features were you most excited to explore leveraging in the development of Yakuza: Like a Dragon?
A: Since we’ve just brought Yakuza to Xbox for the first time, it’s great that we were able to support Smart Delivery to make Like a Dragon more accessible across console generations.
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Q: How do you expect fans of Yakuza: Like a Dragon will respond to playing it on Xbox Series X with these enhancements?
A: I think players will really enjoy the more detailed renders and smoother performance of the game. We focus a lot on very subtle details when developing Yakuza titles, so this will make it a much more immersive experience than it would be otherwise.
Q: What is it like developing on Xbox Series X?
A: The hardware was easy to develop on, it’s incredible to develop on a platform that’s as powerful as a high-spec gaming PC.