The studio of Toshiro Nagoshi, the legendary creator of the Yakuza series, has officially shut down before releasing a single game.
Toshiro Nagoshi (Credits: Daniel Pearce/Edge Magazine via Getty Images/IGN)
According to a report by Gematsu, the Tokyo-based Nagoshi Studio closed its doors through a shareholders’ resolution on October 31, with the announcement published in Japan’s official government gazette, Kanpo. It marks a quiet end for one of gaming’s most high-profile new studios.
Why did Nagoshi Studio shut down?
Nagoshi formed the studio in 2022 with investment from Chinese giant NetEase, after leaving Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio a year earlier. Its debut project, the Yakuza-like action game Gang of Dragon, got a flashy reveal at The Game Awards last December and looked like a strong return to Nagoshi’s crime-drama roots.
But doubts crept in back in March, when NetEase signalled it would cut off funding as part of a wider retreat from international game investment. Bloomberg reported that NetEase made the call after learning Gang of Dragon would need at least another ¥7 billion (roughly $44.4 million) to be completed. Nagoshi was said to be hunting for new investors to buy the studio out, but never found one.
Will Gang of Dragon ever release?
With the studio now dissolved, Gang of Dragon’s future looks bleak. There has been no word on whether another publisher could pick up the project, and given the scale of the funding gap, it seems unlikely the game will see the light of day in anything close to its revealed form.
It is a sad twist for Nagoshi, whose Yakuza games — now living on as the Like a Dragon series — built him a global fanbase. His first independent venture ends almost exactly four years after it began, a reminder of how brutal big-budget game development remains even for industry legends.
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Source: IGN — read the full story there.