Stranger Than Heaven Devs Say Adding Tupac Was a ‘Good Idea’

Ryu Ga Gotoku studio, the developers of upcoming Yakuza prologue game Stranger than Heaven, are standing by their decision to resurrect Tupac Shakur as a character in the game. Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama said, "We think it’s something that will add value to the game we’re making." The development team had first settled on casting Snoop Dogg as the smuggler Orpheus.

Working with Snoop, they workshopped ideas for characters that might play well with Orpheus, and Snoop brought up Tupac as a potential character, an idea RGG was excited by and decided to pursue. Yokoyama said the notion of reviving deceased characters for video games is more the norm in Japan than elsewhere, pointing toward RGG’s decision to use the likeness of Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara as one example.

He also said they worked to get proper permissions from both Sugawara and Tupac’s estate and family. "We got their approval, we negotiated, and everybody was okay with it," he said.

Japan

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