If Ys NET is even making a game right now, waiting for а announcement is pointless. Nagoshi, the creator of Yakuza, said in an interview that the most important lesson he learned in the game making was that he shouldn't wait 2 years for a new game, after Yakuza 1. I know that Yakuza is a different game, the company is different, even the situation... But if the person says that this is the most important lesson he has learned, then there is a reason.
That was his words after the suggestion from one of his staff:
"Momentum could fate really fast. If we were to wait two years, the fire would have went out, having to start promotion all over again to bring back the flame. It wasn't efficient in terms of costs, nor was it efficient to have the game disappear from people's minds. This was true from a market perspective. I was worried if we could achieve that, but I really thought he had a point." Although I am more of an artisan type of creator, I thought that time was required in order to bring quality. But I made it a priority to launch the game after one year, then I thought of the game's content. The volume was quite dense, but it had to be done in a year. In the end, Yakuza 2 did twice as many sales as the first game. Looking back, I think that if that staff didn't say what he said at the time, the series probably wouldn't have lasted for more than 10 years.
I know that we will be happy to play the game even after 5 years, but the new fans, whatever their numbers may be, won't wait and will move on to other games. They've got to do something fast and don't worry to much about what haters may say. :)