Sega has released its annual integrated report for 2020, which includes lifetime sales figures for the game series, with the Yakuza series surpassing 14 million units across all titles. This compares to stats of 11 million units sold in the series in 2018, when "Yakuza 6" was released in the U.S. and Europe, and 12 million units sold in 2019. This means that more than 20% of Yakuza's lifetime sales are from the past two years, which is totally out of proportion to the series' 15-year lifetime sales, but not to the number of games released. This is a significant turnaround for a series that was widely considered to be declining in popularity relative to the growth of the industry.

Sega credits this turnaround to the game's niche appeal and its focus on portraying Japanese culture. In particular, its portrayal of culture, previously considered too niche to be accepted by Western audiences, has recently become a major selling point for the series. The annual integrated report specifically notes that the Yakuza, like the Persona series, is "highly regarded by foreign users. This is just one example of how "made in Japan" content by Sega is spreading overseas.

Nevertheless, the report also points out that Yakuza is a niche game targeting a niche market. Specifically, the business model for the upcoming series relies on releasing the game on multiple platforms and multiple services and taking advantage of the ubiquity of digital distribution to reach targeted niches around the world, not just in a handful of countries. The PC in particular has been identified as a key vector for this strategy.

Over the past few years, the Yakuza series, despite and because of its quirks and shortcomings, has been quite beloved by the PC Gamer staff. The latest Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an oddity that Andy Kelley describes as "doubling down on the RPG elements of the series. You can read his full review of "Yakuza 7" here. Hopefully, Sega's recognition here will lead to "Yakuza 3," "Yakuza 4," and "Yakuza 5" being released on the PC.