Everybody loves Yakuza now, but its creator says Sega "flat out rejected" initial pitches for the series

Yakuza/ Like a Dragon is everyone's favourite oddball action game/ RPG/ life-sim these days, but Sega apparently completely rejected the first time pitches for the first game. It took a while, but I think at this point it's pretty safe to say that the Yakuza series, or the Like a Dragon series as it's now been rebranded to, is one of the most beloved game series in the industry. That's definitely in part thanks to some strong localisations with prequels like Yakuza 0, remakes like Yakuza Kiwami ...