Toriyama Built Xenoverse 3's World Before His Passing

"I cannot overstate Akira Toriyama-sensei's immense involvement in the development of Age 1000 itself. From the overall worldview to the new character designs, he collaborated with us on almost every aspect, laying the foundation for this game's sandbox."

That's producer Masayuki Hirano speaking about Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 during Summer Game Fest 2026, and the weight of those words is hard to miss. Toriyama, who passed away in March 2024, didn't just lend his name or sign off on a few sketches. According to Hirano's interviews across multiple outlets, the creator of Dragon Ball designed the characters, conceived the setting and lore, and provided core story concepts that the development team at Dimps then built the entire game around. For a franchise that has always traded on Toriyama's vision, knowing that Xenoverse 3 carries this much of his direct creative input makes it feel like something more than a standard sequel.

Hirano elaborated on the depth of that collaboration in an interview with MonsterVine, framing the game as one of the last projects Toriyama worked on. "This is one of Toriyama-sensei's worlds that he had created and spent so much time developing," Hirano said. "I would love to personally live inside that world as long as possible." He tied that sentiment directly to Dimps' post-launch ambitions, expressing hope that Xenoverse 3 could match the roughly ten years of support that Xenoverse 2 received. That decade of DLC and updates for the previous game wasn't planned, Hirano admitted; it grew organically because fans kept showing up.

What Age 1000 Actually Changes

Xenoverse 3 is set 148 years after the events of Xenoverse 2, in a future version of West City that Toriyama envisioned from scratch. The new "Welcome to West City" trailer introduces Bulma and Gamma 1 alongside original characters like Brett, Lilica, ROM, and Tap. Where the first two games leaned heavily on time-travelling through familiar Dragon Ball history, Hirano says the shift forward was intentional. "Xenoverse 1 and Xenoverse 2 focused heavily on traveling to the past to fix history. For the third entry, we wanted to look forward," he explained. "Setting it hundreds of years into the future provides an entirely unknown territory for the fans and for us as creators to explore."

New mechanics reflect that forward-looking design. Soul Switch lets players temporarily become iconic Dragon Ball characters like Trunks or Vegeta mid-fight, while Soul Assist calls in an ally for a combined attack. According to Hirano, these systems have narrative justifications rooted in Toriyama's original concepts. Race selection also matters more this time; Saiyans access Super Saiyan transformations while Earthlings get a completely different toolkit. Push Square's hands-off preview noted that players can choose between Soul Switching and awakening transformations when building their character, which is a smart way to let people decide whether they want to lean on legacy fighters or stand on their own.

Hirano also confirmed that development resources are split evenly, a "clean 50/50" between the single-player campaign and the online multiplayer sandbox. The story mode remains a dedicated solo experience focused on your custom avatar's journey through the GS Squad, with a separate pool of co-op and competitive missions for online play. Visually, previews have compared the game favourably to Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, with smoother animations and more cinematic cutscenes than the previous entries ever managed. Your custom character is actually voiced this time, too.

I think the Toriyama connection elevates this beyond what would otherwise be a fairly standard sequel announcement. Xenoverse 2 was a solid game stretched thin across a decade of DLC that eventually cost more than the base game itself, and there's every reason to expect Xenoverse 3 will follow a similar monetisation path. But knowing that the world, the characters, and the foundational story came directly from Toriyama gives the whole project a sense of purpose that's rare for a licensed action RPG. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 is due out on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam in 2027.