Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi’s studio has officially shut down after NetEase pulled funding, according to Gematsu.
The Japanese game publication said Tokyo-based Nagoshi Studio closed after a shareholders’ resolution on October 31. And that announcement was released in the Japanese government’s kanpo publication.
The company was working on Gang of Dragon. Nagoshi formed the studio in 2022 with funding from NetEase. He had left Ryu Ga Gotku a year earlier.
But NetEase began a retreat from non-Chinese game investments after the success of Black Myth: Wukong. Bloomberg reported NetEase made that decision after learning Gang of Dragon needed at least $44.4 million to be completed. The studio did not succeed in finding other investors.
Nagoshi was the creator of Sega’s Yakuza and Like A Dragon series of games. Gang of Dragon, a gritty action-adventure game set in Shinjuku’s Kabukicho district. It starred voice actor Ma Dong-seok.