Yakuza series creator leaves Sega, founds new studio Nagoshi Studio

The lead creators behind Sega’s Yakuza series have a new studio: Nagoshi Studio. It’s named for the former head and founder of Sega’s Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Toshihiro Nagoshi, who will serve as CEO and representative director of the new game developer.

NetEase Games officially announced the formation of Nagoshi Studio on Monday, saying that Nagoshi and his team “will focus on developing high-quality console titles that will be released globally.” Nagoshi Studio has not yet revealed its first project.

Sega was Nagoshi’s employee for many years. He worked on the original. Daytona USAThe Super Monkey Ball series and numerous Yakuza/Judgment games are some of the many titles. Nagoshi left Sega in 2021 to strike out on his own, with assistance from NetEase, the Chinese gaming company that recently acquired Goichi “Suda51” Suda’s Grasshopper Manufacture and has made significant investments in Western developers like Bungie and Quantic Dream.

Image: Nagoshi Studio/NetEase

Nagoshi’s new studio will be home to a number of Sega and Yakuza veteran producers, programmers, Kazuki Tokieda, Kazuki Hosokawa, Koji Tokieda, Koji Tokieda producer/director, Masao Shirosaki planner/game designer, Mistunori Fujimoto engineer, Naoki Someya director Taichi Ushioda and Toshihiro Buto. In a news release, NetEase said that Nagoshi Studio “enjoys full authority to manage and create the kinds of games that they are passionate about, with NetEase Games’ support.”

Sega’s Yakuza series kicked off with the original Yakuza (aka Ryu Ga GotokuJapan (in 2005). This is the latest entry in this series. Yakuza: As a DragonSpinoff sequel Lost JudgmentThese were both released in 2020/2021. Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio plan to continue the series without Nagoshi and his cohorts’ involvement. Masayoshi Yamaki, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s new director, told Famitsu in an interview that they would like to do a follow up. Yakuza: As a Dragonis currently in development.