NetEase Ends Funding of Yakuza Creator Toshihiro Nagoshi's New Studio

Toshihiro Nagoshi spent over 30 years at SEGA, and it's not surprising that his work as a director of Yakuza, or Like a Dragon, would leave a mark on his new studio's first game, although I honestly didn't expect it to be called Gang of Dragon (or anything with dragons, really).

Gang of Dragon was revealed in December, and now, just months later, Bloomberg (via PC Gamer) reports devastating news: NetEase, which helped establish Nagoshi Studio and promised its support, decided to end funding for the studio in May.

Nagoshi will reportedly need at least $44.4 million more to finish the game and is trying to find a new sponsor with no success so far. The report says that NetEase will allow the studio to continue working on Gang of Dragon but will ask it to buy out the assets or brand if it wants to keep them.

A year ago, another report revealed that NetEase would "divest itself of the majority of its overseas teams, leading to the potential closure of more than a dozen game studios if they can’t secure new post-NetEase funding," and now we can see the plan in action.

Perhaps it's good that Gang of Dragon's Steam page is so bare-bones: the disappointment will not be as harsh if the game gets canceled after this decision.

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