Nagoshi Studio, the NetEase-backed developer founded by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, has officially closed. Japan’s Official Gazette, Kanpo, listed the company among its latest dissolutions on Monday, ending months of speculation about the studio’s future.
The closure leaves the studio’s debut game, Gang of Dragon, without a developer. It also adds another name to the list of teams hit by NetEase as the Chinese publisher retreats from international game development.
What happened to Gang of Dragon
Nagoshi set up the studio in 2021 after leaving Sega, where he created the Yakuza series. That franchise, now sold as Like a Dragon in the West, debuted on PlayStation 2 in 2005.
Gang of Dragon was formally announced in December 2025 and described at the time as “deep into development.” The action game starred South Korean-American actor Ma Dong-seok, known for his roles in Train to Busan, The Outlaws and Marvel’s Eternals.
Problems surfaced within months. According to a Bloomberg report, Nagoshi Studio staff learned in March that NetEase planned to stop funding the project. The publisher reportedly made that call after finding Gang of Dragon needed another ¥7 billion (about $44.4 million) to reach completion.
Nagoshi had sounded confident about the game long before then. In the studio’s first Western interview, given to VGC in 2023, he said he would not let down fans of his earlier work. He also promised they would be happy with his new team’s first release.
Nagoshi Studio joins a long list of NetEase closures
Nagoshi Studio is the latest casualty of NetEase’s decision to sharply scale back its overseas development operations. The company spent years investing in new studios around the world. Now it is unwinding many of those bets, and several teams have closed while others look for new backers.
The first wave of cuts shut down T-Minus, FPC and Bad Brain. NetEase then split from Worlds Untold, the Vancouver studio it founded in 2023 with Mass Effect writer Mac Walters. It also parted ways with Seattle-based Jar of Sparks, which Xbox veteran Jerry Hook founded in 2022.
Japan has felt the pullback as well. Ouka Studio, the Tokyo developer behind Square Enix‘s Visions of Mana, closed in 2024.
Japanese studios that kept going
Not every Japanese partner has shut its doors. Goichi Suda‘s Grasshopper Manufacture has pushed ahead with new games without NetEase funding. Likewise, GPTRACK50, the studio led by Resident Evil producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, has continued development on its own terms.
Nagoshi Studio’s position was different, however. Its only announced project still needed ¥7 billion to finish, according to Bloomberg, and that gap proved too large once NetEase stepped away.
The Kanpo notice confirms the company’s dissolution. It says nothing about the future of Gang of Dragon, its cast, or where Nagoshi goes next.