Today, during a livestream from Tokyo, Sega announced the winner of the Grand Prix of the audition for a role in the upcoming game Like a Dragon 8.
The winner, picked among five finalists who were presented a month ago is Kson. Who many may know as a popular YouTuber and Vtuber (virtual YouTuber) associated with the VShojo agency. Her channel Kson ONAIR has 1.25 million subscribers.
As a result, she received a 1 million yen prize (just north of $7,100 at the current exchange rate) and more importantly, she will play a relevant role in the upcoming mainline game. During the livestream, chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto provided more color about her role. There is a location in the game in which the protagonists and their friends gather, and Kson will play the "Madonna" of that place.
Upon the announcement, Kson was visibly moved, and she expressed her surprise and joy, mentioning that she will do her best while understandably struggling to talk among tears and giggling. Considering that she's known to be a big fan of the series, the reaction isn't surprising. Later during the livestream, she even greeted her Western fans in English with "I did it guys! Thank you!" Kson is bilingual, which helped her grow her popularity with the English-speaking audience as well.
You can check out the video below at the 40:46 mark to see her reaction when she learned that she's going to play a relevant role in one of her favorite series.
Incidentally, Kson and the other finalists will all play a smaller live-action role in Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, which is coming this year, appearing as cabaret club hostesses. Kson's role in Like a Dragon 8 will be more relevant and she will have a full-fledged 3D model featuring her voice.
If you follow Vtubers, you may be aware that many fans believe Kson to be the performer behind Hololive's Kiryu Coco, who retired after being on the receiving end of a widespread harassment campaign by Chinese users on top of bans on local media due to her mention in passing of Taiwan as a separate country during one of her streams. While this wasn't officially confirmed for obvious reasons, I'm sure many fans will appreciate the poetic justice in today's triumph.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is coming later this year for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. It'll mark the return of protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and showcase the events between Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Like a Dragon 8, which will see Kiryu Share the protagonist role with Yakuza: Like a Dragon hero Ichiban Kasuga and will release in 2024 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Today we learned that the next RGG summit livestream will be hosted next month, providing more information about the upcoming games.
