Nagoshi Studio, the Tokyo developer that Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi founded with NetEase Games money, has been formally dissolved. A notice in Japan’s official government gazette, Kanpo, on November 2 says the company’s shareholders voted to dissolve it on October 31, 2026, and that it is now in liquidation. Its only announced game, the Ma Dong-seok crime drama Gang of Dragon, has no official status update, but its studio no longer exists as a going concern.
The filing was reported by Gematsu, and VGC, GamesIndustry.biz, Polygon and others have since followed. Neither NetEase, the studio nor Nagoshi had commented when we checked on November 2.
Table of Contents
What the Kanpo notice says
The notice runs on page 176 of the November 2 extra edition (No. 240) of Kanpo, among routine corporate dissolution notices. It is short and formulaic. In our translation of the Japanese text:
- Company: Nagoshi Studio Inc. (株式会社名越スタジオ), Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. Steam lists the same “Nagoshi Studio Inc.” as Gang of Dragon’s developer and publisher.
- Decision: dissolved by a resolution of the general meeting of shareholders on October 31, 2026.
- Creditors: anyone with a claim against the company must come forward within two months of the day after the notice ran. Claims not filed in that window are excluded from the liquidation.
- Signed by: the company’s representative liquidator.
Under Japanese company law, dissolution starts the wind-down rather than ending it: a liquidator settles debts and assets, and the company is struck off once that’s finished. The notice doesn’t say what happens to Gang of Dragon’s code, assets or brand.
Gang of Dragon combat from the December 2025 reveal: fists, swords and guns. Image: Nagoshi Studio
How NetEase’s funding cut led here
NetEase set up Nagoshi Studio in November 2021, shortly after Nagoshi and his long-time collaborator Daisuke Sato left Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and announced it in January 2022 with Nagoshi as president and CEO. Its stated goal was high-quality console games for a global audience.
Gang of Dragon was its first and only announced game, revealed at The Game Awards in December 2025 for PC via Steam. Ma Dong-seok (Don Lee) played Shin Ji-seong, a senior member of a Korean crime syndicate in Kabukicho, in an action-adventure built on hand-to-hand fights, swords, guns and car chases through Shinjuku. “This project depicts, with unwavering honesty, the lives of outlaws who inhabit the real streets of Kabukicho,” Nagoshi said in the reveal press release.
Three months later it fell apart. Bloomberg reported on March 7 that NetEase would stop funding the studio from May, and a NetEase spokesperson confirmed the decision without giving reasons or exit terms. According to Bloomberg’s sources:
- staff were told on March 6;
- NetEase had found the game needed at least ¥7 billion (about $44 million) more to finish;
- Nagoshi was looking for new backers without success;
- NetEase said the studio could carry on alone, but would have to pay to keep the assets or brand.
That money never turned up publicly. The studio’s website went offline without notice in May, PC Gamer reported, and the nagoshistudio.com domain still wasn’t loading on November 2.
Is Gang of Dragon cancelled?
No one has officially said so. The Gang of Dragon Steam page is still live as of November 2, 11:30 UTC, listed as “Coming soon” for Windows only, with the December 2025 teaser and screenshots. It never had a release date or price.
With its developer and publisher in liquidation, the game has no visible path to release unless a buyer takes over its assets. None has been announced.
A car mechanic screen from Gang of Dragon's Steam page, which is still listed as Coming soon. Image: Nagoshi Studio
NetEase’s wider retreat
Nagoshi Studio is the latest casualty of NetEase pulling back from studios outside China. In recent years it has closed or cut loose Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios, Fantastic Pixel Castle, Bad Brain, Worlds Untold and Jar of Sparks. Grasshopper Manufacture went independent in September on friendlier terms. It’s the same pattern of publisher retrenchment behind this autumn’s BioWare closure, the search for a buyer for Arkane Lyon and the reported Sucker Punch layoffs.
For Yakuza fans, the series itself is unaffected: Like a Dragon stays with Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the team behind spin-offs like Like a Dragon Gaiden.
What’s next
The two-month creditor window runs from November 3, so the liquidation can’t be wrapped up before early January 2027. Watch for three things: any statement from Nagoshi or NetEase; whether the Steam page is taken down; and any sale of the Gang of Dragon assets. We’ll update this story, and our gaming news live page, if any of them happen.
Sources: Kanpo, Nov 2, 2026 (extra edition No. 240, p. 176), Steam, Gematsu, GamesIndustry.biz (Bloomberg report), VGC, PC Gamer.
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Featured image: Nagoshi Studio
