Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi's next game could be in jeopardy, as NetEase reportedly makes a series of budget cuts including at his self-founded Nagoshi Studio. Nagoshi famously walked away from the Yakuza series following the release of 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and his decision to join up with NetEase may be a costly one.
Nagoshi announced he was leaving Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio in October 2021, shortly after releasing his last title with the developer, the action-adventure game Lost Judgment, a standalone offshoot of the Yakuza main series. Nagoshi Studio was founded soon afterward, and while there's still almost no information about it, the studio's first game is planned to be a large-scale project.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon's Ichiban Kasuga is a hero in many facets, keeping the protagonist's debut emotionally resonant five years later.
It may have to be scaled back to meet time and budget constraints. A new report released by Bloomberg indicates that NetEase founder William Ding is eyeing major budget cuts across the several development studios working under the publishing company. These money-saving measures have already resulted in the loss of several jobs, including layoffs within Marvel Rivals,...
