Like A Dragon Gaiden English dub will be a post-launch download
Fans of the Like A Dragon/Yakuza series hoping to hear their faves in English may end up waiting a little while longer this November. The English dub for Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will be released as a patch after the game launches in November 2023.
The information, which is also listed on the official website but not regularly mentioned in the game's marketing or press releases, was reconfirmed by voice actor Yong Yea on Twitter (a.k.a. X). Yea plays longtime Like A Dragon protagonist and star of The Man Who Erased His Name Kiryu Kazuma. He said that while there isn't an official date for the patch itself, he encouraged players anticipating the dub to be patient, and that he hopes they'll look forward to it.
Yea didn't mention exactly why the dub was being released this way, but this isn't the first time a game has released other voice languages as separate downloads. For some games, the additional languages were separated out as a way of minimizing the initial download and install size of the game on digital platforms. For others, production delays or other technical hiccups necessitated launching with only a core set of supported voice languages.
For the Like A Dragon series, English dubs are something of a newer phenomenon. Though the first game (as Yakuza) launched as an English dub-only title on PS2, its sequel, as well as Yakuza 3 through 6, as well as Yakuza 0 , all used the Japanese voice track only, with subtitles in various languages. English dubs made a return for Yakuza: Like A Dragon (a.k.a. Yakuza 7) as well as the Judgment and Like A Dragon: Ishin! titles, which are spin-offs in the same setting.
Similarly, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the next mainline series title, will also have an English dub. Yong Yea did not say whether or not the dub on that game will be released separately, but speculated in a reply that it would be available at launch.
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will launch on November 9, 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.