Nagoshi Studio, the developer led by Yakuza/Like a Dragon series creator Toshiro Nagoshi, has officially shut down, ending development of Gang of Dragon, which was revealed at The Game Awards last year. Shareholders resolved to dissolve the studio on October 31, according to a notice published in a Japanese government newspaper called Kanpo, as first reported by Gematsu.
This follows a report from Bloomberg earlier this year that said Chinese gaming megacorp NetEase Games was cutting funding to Nagoshi Studio, allowing Nagoshi to seek independent funding elsewhere. It seems he couldn’t find funding, and now Nagoshi Studio is no more. NetEase helped Nagoshi found the studio in November 2021.
You can watch the Gang of Dragon reveal trailer below for a look at what the team was cooking up:
This closure follows other signals that NetEase is looking to divest from the gaming scene outside of its Chinese studios. A little over a month ago, Suda51’s Grasshopper Manufacture left NetEase to go independent again, just months after the launch of Romeo Is A Dead Man.