Nagoshi Studio Dissolved After NetEase Pulls Funding on Gang of Dragon

Nagoshi Studio, the NetEase-backed developer founded by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, has been dissolved, according to a company dissolution report published by Kanpo, the official government gazette of Japan. The shutdown follows NetEase's reported withdrawal of funding from the studio's sole announced project, Gang of Dragon.

The timing is brisk, even by industry standards. Nagoshi Studio unveiled Gang of Dragon — a spiritual successor to Sega's Like a Dragon/Yakuza series — at The Game Awards in Los Angeles in December. Four months later, in March, Bloomberg reported that NetEase had pulled back funding after the studio requested an additional ¥7 billion (approximately $44.5 million) to finish the game. The pullback coincided with NetEase's broader retreat from gaming investment.

Who is Toshihiro Nagoshi?

Nagoshi left Sega in 2021, where he served as chief creative officer and headed Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the developer behind the Yakuza franchise he created. That same year he founded Nagoshi Studio under NetEase's backing. Gang of Dragon, revealed four years into the studio's life, was its first public project. It may also be its last.

What happens to Gang of Dragon?

Officially, nothing — and that's the problem. NetEase has not canceled Gang of Dragon, but it remains unclear whether the company has any appetite to carry the project to completion. No successor developer has been named. Nagoshi himself has issued no public statements since the game's December reveal.

The warning signs predate the gazette entry. This past summer, the Nagoshi Studio YouTube channel was deleted, then restored with every video set to private — including the Gang of Dragon reveal trailer shown at The Game Awards. When your reveal trailer goes dark eight months after its debut, the gazette entry is less a surprise than a confirmation.

How does this fit NetEase's wider retreat?

Nagoshi Studio is one entry on a long list, not an outlier. Other studios have recently split from NetEase, including Goichi Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture and Anchor Point Studios. A far larger group of NetEase-backed studios has absorbed layoffs or shut down entirely as the Chinese company scales back its gaming investments.

For studios still counting on NetEase funding, the arithmetic is plain. A ¥7 billion ($44.5 million) ask — modest by AAA standards — was enough to end a studio led by one of Japan's most recognizable creative directors. The lesson travels fast.

The open question now is where Gang of Dragon lands: whether NetEase quietly shelves it, licenses it out, or a publisher steps in for a series with a proven lineage. Watch for any statement from Nagoshi, who has been silent since December — and for further dissolution notices in Kanpo as NetEase's retrenchment works through its remaining portfolio.