We’ve previously reported on how Yakuza: Like a Dragon protagonist Ichiban Kasuga begins off as a bum, collecting trash and fishing for change in vending machines for money here, but by mid-game, there are better ways to earn money, which Sega revealed in their latest press release. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Earning Money Mid-game

After a certain point, Ichiban Kasuga will begin encountering tougher enemies, while better equipment will continue to inflate in cost. This is when Company Management becomes a good way to earn money more efficiently.

At a certain point, Kasuga meets a woman named Eri Kamataki, who has collapsed on the street. After getting to know her better, she tells him about the financial troubles her company, Ichiban Kashi, is in; and that the company is about to go bankrupt. She’s considering shutting down the company, but Kasuga encourages her to continue, and together they work together to rebuild the company.

As the new company president, Kasuga will need to do everything from hiring employees, to holding shareholder meetings, in order to help the company grow. There are many rival companies who’ll stop at nothing to get ahead, and Kasuga will need to raise the company’s stocks and aim to become the biggest company in Yokohama.

How to Manage a Company

Kasuga will need to look out for the sales potential of products, as well as the abilities of the employes, as these will affect sales in a major way.

There are tons of properties you can acquire to operate at, depending on your financial situation and human resources.

If you see up-and-coming properties, you should earn money via sales and other methods, and purchase them.

Pour resources into training talented staff into successful managers. Drawing in staff with a good future, and training them is the key to success. For example, you could train Nugget the chicken, who’s being raised by Eri, and is something like the mascot of the company.

Investor Meetings

Every so often, Kasuga will need to hold investor meetings, which play out like a debate battle between Kasuga’s side and stockholders who are unhappy. If you are able to answer and rebut the investors’ complaints to the point of satisfaction, your approval rating will improve. Ending the investor’s meeeting with an approval rating of 50% or above means you succeed.

The investor’s meeting is a real-time Q&A battle where investors will “attack” with questions about staff, money, or properties. Your staff are split into one of the three types, and if you let the effective type of staff reply, it’ll take less attacks to destroy their “attack” speech balloons. Manage yyour resources carefully though – you only have a limited amount of resources.

Investors who have their speech balloon “attacks” destroyed are defenseless, letting you counterattack and try pacify them with your “attacks”. If they lose all their fighting spirit (ie. HP), they’ll stop asking questions, and the investor’s meeting will go smoother.

When his gauge is filled up, Kasuga can also choose to perform the Apology Kiwami, which might pacify the unruly investors.

Earning Money via Investor’s Meetings

After investor meetings, you’ll earn management reward money which will be added to Kasuga’s own funds. The amount you receive will change depending on how well your company is doing, so by ranking up your company then doing well in investor meetings, you can earn more money.

That said, the money under Operational funds are not usable by Kasuga, as they are used to keep the company running.

Using Money Effectively

Money is very important for summoning powerful allies, but also other purposes such as upgrading equipment. While some equipment is buyable in stores, stronger equipment will need to be made and upgraded at Romance Factory, a repair shop in Ijincho. Romance Factory is run by Sumire Sawa.

At Romance Factory, you’ll be able to create equipment as long as you have the money and materials necessary. Materials are found dropped around town, in battle, bought at stores, or by beating Play Spots.

Also, by providing Romance Factory with extra funding, strong weapons that can’t be made anywhere else can be created.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon releases for PlayStation 4 in Japan on January 16, 2020. Read more about the early game and earning money early on here.