NetEase has informed Nagoshi Studio employees that it intends to cut funding for Gang of Dragon in May – the project reportedly needs an additional 7 billion yen to reach completion, and Toshihiro Nagoshi has so far been unable to secure alternative financing.

When Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creative force behind the Yakuza saga, left Sega to found his own studio, much of the gaming community was excited about what might come next. After years of silence and development work, The Game Awards 2025 delivered what seemed like a major announcement: Gang of Dragon, an ambitious action-adventure game following the story of Shin Ji-seong through the streets of Tokyo. The title promised to be a spiritual successor to Yakuza/Like a Dragon – but the bad news is that it may never reach players at all.

Just three months after its announcement, cancellation is already a real possibility. According to Bloomberg, Nagoshi Studio employees were informed on Friday that NetEase intends to stop funding Gang of Dragon from May onwards. The decision reportedly stems from the discovery that completing the game’s development would require an additional 7 billion yen – approximately 38 million euros. Nagoshi is said to be seeking alternative funding to save the project, though no such efforts have succeeded so far. Both NetEase and Nagoshi Studio have declined to comment, but according to VGC, the game was in full development at the time of the news, with roughly two years still remaining before a potential launch.

NetEase‘s Withdrawal Is Not an Isolated Case

The situation at Nagoshi Studio is far from unique – it is merely the latest chapter in NetEase‘s systematic retreat from international game development. The Chinese company has recently shut down several studios, including T-Minus, FPC, and Bad Brain, and parted ways with Worlds Untold. In Japan, Ouka Studio, responsible for Square Enix‘s Visions of Mana, was also closed in 2024 following the withdrawal of NetEase funding. Other studios – such as Goichi Suda’s Grasshopper Manufacture and Hiroyuki Kobayashi’s GPTRACK50 – have managed to carry on without NetEase‘s backing, but the fate of Gang of Dragon remains an open question.

Source: 3DJuegos