Nagoshi Studio, the independent game developer founded by Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, has shut down. The company disclosed its dissolution in Japan's official gazette, Kanpo, stating that it was dissolved on October 31 during a shareholders meeting. The closure comes less than a year after the studio announced its first game, Gang of Dragon.
Nagoshi formed the studio following his work on the Yakuza franchise and moved into development on Gang of Dragon, whose first trailer arrived in December 2025. The game was positioned as an evolution of the Yakuza formula, again set in the organized crime world of Tokyo's Kabuchiko district, this time following a new protagonist, Shin Ji-Seong. The trailer suggested the project might carry a more serious tone than its predecessor series.
The project ran into financial trouble despite the attention the trailer drew. According to a Bloomberg report, backer NetEase withdrew its funding from the studio. Gang of Dragon reportedly still needed more than $44 million to be completed, and Nagoshi Studio was seeking financial support from other sources to finish the game.
With the company now formally closed, Nagoshi Studio will begin liquidating its assets and sorting out its liabilities, according to the notice published in Kanpo. The game's Steam store page remains live. The studio's shutdown leaves Gang of Dragon unlikely to leave development limbo anytime soon.
The dissolution was recorded through Japan's government gazette rather than announced through a separate public statement from the studio. NetEase's decision to pull funding, as reported by Bloomberg, marked the funding setback that preceded the closure. Nagoshi Studio had been looking for outside financial support at the time.
For US players who followed the Yakuza series, Gang of Dragon had been presented as Nagoshi's next project in the crime drama genre. The Steam storefront listing for the game is still accessible to US users even though the developer behind it has been dissolved. Whether the title progresses without its studio remains unresolved.
More gadget news from TechManNews.
