Toshihiro Nagoshi’s post-Sega game studio, Nagoshi Studio, shuts down after NetEase funding cuts
By It was just last December when Nagoshi Studio unveiled Gang of Dragon, a spiritual successor to the Nagoshi-created series Like a Dragon/Yakuza from Sega, at The Game Awards in Los Angeles. But since the announcement, NetEase reportedly cut funding on the game’s development, and the studio itself has been dissolved according to a report of company dissolutions by Kanpo, the official government gazette of Japan.
Toshihiro Nagoshi left Sega in 2021 as its chief creative officer, as well as head of the Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. That same year, Nagoshi founded Nagoshi Studio under NetEase, revealing Gang of Dragon four years later. This past March, Bloomberg reported that NetEase pulled back funding on the game after the studio required addition funding of ¥7 billion ($44.5 million) to finish the game, also coinciding with NetEase looking to pull back from gaming.
Other studios have recently split from NetEase, such as Goichi Suda’s Grasshopper Manufacture and Anchor Point Studios, but Nagoshi Studio joins the far larger list of studios under NetEase that suffered layoffs or shut down entirely. NetEase has not officially canceled Gang of Dragon, but it is unclear if there is any appetite at NetEase to take the project over the finish line.
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Nagoshi has not issued any public statements since Gang of Dragon was revealed in December. This past summer, the Nagoshi Studio YouTube channel was deleted, then restored with all videos made private, including the reveal trailer for Gang of Dragon.
About the Author
Contributing Editor
Imran Khan has been in the games industry in various forms for over two decades. He has been a former senior editor at Game Informer, a professional loudmouth at Kinda Funny, and news director at Fanbyte. He has also been doing PR for Vicarious PR and Head of U.S. PR for Japanese VR studio MyDearest,
