'Yakuza' creator Toshihiro Nagoshi wants his development team to try something fresh.
Yakuza
The Ryu Ga Gotoku director has suggested his developer could be set to work on an entirely new project and focusing on the same franchise for so long.
He told Game Informer: "The Ryu Ga Gotoku team members, they've only really worked on the Yakuza series.
"But I think it would be a waste if these really talented team members that we have aren't able to use all of their skills to their full potential.
"That might be challenging themselves, creating something of a whole different genre and a different style.
"We don't know that yet, but that’s something that we're really taking into consideration right now for the growth of our team as a whole."
Although Ryu Ga Gotoku has explored new genres within the 'Yakuza' series - such as turn-based RPG on 'Like A Dragon' - the team hasn't branched out beyond the universe.
The franchise has been in development with various titles for over 15 years, while its mainstream success in the West has come relatively recently after 'Yakuza 0' launched in 2017.
Nagoshi added: "When it comes down to it, I really feel like the sort of simple, straightforward storytelling had a lot to do with why global fans took to ['Yakuza 0'] so much.
“You know, we can’t really control sparks like that from happening. But the team and I often talk about, like, ‘Think that’s gonna happen again?’ Like, we really wish that [would] happen again.”