Nagoshi Studios, the studio created by Toshihiro Nagoshi and Daisuke Sato after their departure from Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio in 2021, has seemingly been dying a slow death over the last year. Today, another nail seems to have been driven into the coffin, with Sato now listing himself as “ex-Nagoshi Studio” on his Twitter/X bio.
We first heard about Nagoshi Studios’ troubles in February of 2025. Then, it was reported that NetEase, the company backing Nagoshi Studios’ debut game Gang of Dragon, was pulling out of many of its recent gaming investments, and would be paring back on the money it was willing to spend on marketing for the crime epic. At the time, it seemed like Nagoshi Studios would still be able to keep Gang of Dragon going in spite of this, and in fact we even saw a brand new trailer for the game at The Game Awards this past December:
But now, things are looking sketchy again. This past March, reports came in that NetEase would stop funding Nagoshi Studios in May, but that the studio wanted an additional $44.4 million to finish and ship Gang of Dragon. It sounded like Nagoshi Studios might look for funding elsewhere, but the months since have not provided any new reassurance. There was a weird kerfuffle in April with a YouTube channel that seemed to be temporarily deleted or banned, spooking fans, but that seems to have been nothing. A month ago, however, the company’s website went inactive, and its offices were listed as “permanently closed” on Google.
And now today, studio co-founder and director Daisuke Sato has updated his Twitter/X bio to say “ex-Nagoshi Studio,Inc,” suggesting that he is no longer employed there. Though it’s possible the studio could continue without him, signs are not looking good for the continuation of either Nagoshi Studios or Gang of Dragon. Honestly, I wish someone would just come out and say what’s going on here and end the speculation—this is a weird way to announce a studio shutdown.
Kotaku has reached out to both NetEase and Nagoshi Studios for comment.
