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Yakuza, Ryu Ga Gotoku, Sega, Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator, NetEase, China, Tencent, game development, console, Chinese

Yakuza Creator Toshihiro Nagoshi Reportedly Planning to Exit Sega for China’s NetEase

Chinese gaming mega corporation NetEase has entered “final negotiations” to nab Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball creator Toshihiro Nagoshi from Sega, according to a report from Bloomberg. The report states that the game-developing legend would be expected to form and lead a new team of developers to create games, though details on the contract have yet to be finalized. If Toshihiro Nagoshi is indeed set to join NetEase, he will leave Sega after being with the company since 1989. For now, he serves as head of Yakuza franchise developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and he was previously Sega’s chief creative officer.

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Speaking with GameDaily.biz last week, Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmad explained that Chinese studios are becoming more interested in creating large-scale, AAA-quality games, especially for consoles. Examples of expanding interest include Black Myth: Wukong, Lost Soul Aside, and Bright Memory: Infinite, which are each being created by Chinese developers and have impressed Western audiences with clean visuals and engaging gameplay trailers. NetEase in particular already has new studios in Japan and Canada in hopes of expanding outside the mobile market Chinese companies are primarily known for.

How a potential Nagoshi exit to NetEase would affect Sega and the IP he’s involved with is unclear, but the Yakuza series will continue at Sega regardless, with many senior series staff still involved. Yakuza: Like a Dragon launched last year, and the franchise will see another entry via its Judgment spinoff series when Lost Judgment launches next month.


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Michael Cripe
Michael joined The Escapist team in 2019 but has been covering games, movies, TV, and music since 2015. When he’s not writing, Michael is probably playing Super Mario Sunshine, Dead Space, The Binding of Isaac, or Doom Eternal. You can follow his news coverage and reviews at The Escapist, but his work has appeared on other sites like OnlySP, Gameranx, and Kansas City’s The Pitch, too. If you’d like to connect and talk about the latest pop-culture news, you can follow Michael on Twitter (@MikeCripe), Instagram (mike_cripe), or LinkedIn if that’s your thing.