Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi establishes Nagoshi Studio under NetEase

Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creator of the Yakuza series, has announced the establishment of Nagoshi Studio. Nagoshi has also just set up an official website for his new studio, with some of the pages available in English.

The company page noted that Nagoshi Studio is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NetEase Games. This confirmed earlier reports stating that NetEase had hired Nagoshi, which ultimately led to him departing from Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio in late 2021.

Daisuke Sato, the former director and producer of the Yakuza series who left Sega at the same time as Nagoshi, has also become one of the board members of the new studio. The staff page also reveals more members who used to work in the Yakuza and Judgment series, such as the Judgment series producer Kazuki Hosokawa and Yakuza: Like a Dragon programmer Koji Tokieda.

The company's website also revealed that the new studio is located separately from Sakura Studio, another Tokyo-based studio established earlier by NetEase. While Sakura Studio is located at Shibuya Infos Tower, Nagoshi's new studio has its own office at the Ebisu SS Building.

Nagoshi has also published a message on the new studio's establishment, which is also available in English. You can also read the English message right below:

The sea change that began in the entertainment industry in the late 20th century has brought even greater change to the industry in the 21st century.
Changes to entertainment content, how it's made and the business model driven by technology and infrastructure advances have sparked a paradigm shift, and these changes are continuing to unfold with greater and greater speed.
What only yesterday had been considered the height of cool now suddenly becomes outdated before you know it.
For creators, this makes working in the industry today incredibly challenging.
But no matter how the times change, I believe that what people essentially want from entertainment has not changed one bit.

People see their dreams in entertainment.
People look to entertainment to give them hope in life, to soothe them in times of difficulty, and to add excitement in happy times. People look to entertainment to provide the spark for all kinds of events.
The appetite for entertainment is the same today as it was in the past.
There are obviously differences between the past and the present in how entertainment is consumed, its volume and velocity, but its essence remains the same.
The only way to deliver this essence to the world is if all creators approach the works they create with seriousness and clarity while grinding away to get closer to reaching the ideal.

One of my goals at this studio is to create an open atmosphere.
This may sound like an overly simplistic goal.
But even the most talented creators cannot fully unleash their abilities in isolation.
I believe that the first step to creating high-quality titles and delivering the essence of entertainment with strong motivation starts with creating an open atmosphere in the studio.

This means having open-ended discussions that ignore seniority and hierarchy.
This means not fearing mistakes while also not being afraid to correct them, and treating failures as assets. This means not giving up on reaching the ideal, and fighting to get closer to it.
This may seem so simple, but the simplest things can unexpectedly be the hardest to do, and at the same time the most important.
Nagoshi Studio is committed to creating content for the world to enjoy from this atmosphere.