Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 - Gamescom 2026 Interview

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 Producer Talks Timing, Akira Toriyama, And The Galactic Patrol Arc Published Sep 3, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. For years, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 has secretly been one of the best-supported video games. While critically, it received a just fine 72 on Metacritic, commercially the game flew, and for ten years, Dragon Ball fans have been wallowing in its success. Regular updates, evolutions, and new characters have kept the game alive since 2016, and until recently, no sequel was in sight. That was until earlier this year when, during Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2026, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 was revealed. At this year’s Gamescom, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Xenoverse producer Masayuki Hirano, and we dove deep into what fans can expect. A Decade Later, Now Is The Right Time For Xenoverse 3 Ten years is an awful long time to support a game. Just last month we saw No Man’s Sky hit that milestone, but it's one that not many manage. So why was now the right time for Xenoverse 3? “Xenoverse 2 was always supposed to be a long-term project,” Hirano tells me. “But [Akira] Toriyama-sensei started to write a new story and new settings, so we thought about a new game for that. I can't say which was first- the idea of 3 or his story- but the story fits the Xenoverse series really well.” Xenoverse 3 was originally teased as Project Age: 1000. Fans began to piece together the fact that it was probably going to be the next Xenoverse title, and it was revealed as such, but there was a reason for teasing it this way. “We wanted to make it clear that the new setting was created by Toriyama-sensei,” Hirano says. “We wanted to first show that there is a new world and new story that nobody had ever heard of before we revealed the actual game.” Lots stood out from the game’s initial reveal, but surprisingly, the nameless and clearly self-inserted protagonist seemed to resonate the most. He was immediately and affectionately dubbed “John Dragon Ball” by fans. How did the game’s producer feel about this? “I was both surprised and not surprised,” he says. “I was very happy to see it, and instinctively felt that it was the power of the artwork created by Toriyama-sensei.” For the fans, it’s really important how we share this material, so I feel the responsibility heavily. It became instantly clear from Hirano’s answers that the Xenoverse producer, like many others, had immense respect for Toriyama, and working with him was evidently nothing other than a dream. “As a fan of Toriyama-sensei, it's been a great honor for me,” he says, grinning. “It was really nice to be able to work with him, and we worked together on Kakarot as well. He would answer every question we asked, and every response he gave was so precious and interesting. This was especially true for Xenoverse 3, as he introduced this new setting and story. For the fans, it’s really important how we share this material, so I feel the responsibility heavily.” Making Xenoverse 3 What It Is Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is the type of game in which fans will pore over every frame of a trailer to spot even the smallest detail. One thing that hasn’t been too difficult to spot so far, though, is the absence of Goku. “Nobody has mentioned that yet,” Hirano chuckles. “I can’t say much, but the question ‘why does he not appear much’ has come up a lot. They’re asking what it means. We know there’s a big question mark, but we are deliberately not saying why yet.” One of the biggest gameplay changes we’re set to see is the Soul Change. I asked Hirano what’s behind such an interesting mechanic. “There are two reasons for it,” he says. “First, it’s based on the technologies that Toriyama-sensei created for this story. Second, it's narrative-based. It’s involved in the story, the world, and how your character grows within it. It’s about the communication between your character and others, and how they fight together.” Xenoverse 3 isn’t the first place we’ve seen the Age 1000 setting, which first appeared in Dragon Ball Online. Is this a coincidence, or are the two games somehow connected? “It runs parallel to Xenoverse,” Hirano says. “It is a bit of a coincidence, though. Although the Time Patrollers and settings from Online will appear in Xenoverse 3, there isn’t much of a relationship or link between the two.” In the time since Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3’s announcement, Dragon Ball Super’s return was announced with the Galactic Patrol Arc. Given how much Xenoverse 2 evolved and expanded over time, I asked whether there were plans to incorporate this arc into the new game. “Yes, of course we’re already thinking about it,” Hirano tells me. “But the Galactic Patrol Arc was announced after development of the game began, so it won’t be there at launch. We want to introduce constant updates and DLC to Xenoverse 3, so in that sense, this will be one of the first updates.”