Nagoshi Studio Shuts Down, and Gang of Dragon Goes With It

Nagoshi Studio, the Japanese game studio opened by Toshihiro Nagoshi, has shut down. Its first game, Gang of Dragon, will not come out, according to Eurogamer.

Nagoshi is the creator of the Yakuza series. He opened the studio in 2021 to make its own games. The closure is recorded in Kanpo, the official gazette of the Japanese government, where companies' legal notices are published.

The money behind the project was the central problem. NetEase, the Chinese games company that financed the studio, said in March that it would stop funding Nagoshi Studio from May 2026. A NetEase spokesperson confirmed the plan to Bloomberg. A funding cut is when a backer stops paying for a project's development.

The reasons for the cut were reported separately. According to IGN, NetEase made the decision after learning that Gang of Dragon needed at least another ¥7 billion to finish. Eurogamer reports that the studio needed an additional £33.1 million, about US$44.4 million, to complete the game.

Gang of Dragon was an action game that starred the South Korean actor Ma Dong-seok. Its development had been underway for several years before the funding ended. Eurogamer reports that NetEase pulled its money months before the studio closed, and the closure has now left the project without a path to release.

Game studios often depend on one backer for years of work. When that backer stops paying, a team can have months of work and no budget to finish it. Gang of Dragon's story shows how quickly a single funding decision can decide whether a game reaches players.

Players who had followed the project now have a clear answer. The game is not going ahead, and the studio that was making it is closed.