One of Sega’s most prominent figures has created his own studio following his departure from the company. Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi has launched Nagoshi Studio, which is under NetEase Games and will be overseen by the Japanese video game director and designer personally.

Composed of 8 former members of Sega’s Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Nagoshi and his team made the announcement via NetEase, with the new studio focused on developing new properties and games under their own banner.

NetEase Games hereby announces Nagoshi Studio Inc.’s establishment in Tokyo.

Despite of the constant changes in entertainment, people’s desire for fun stays the same. We'll explore potential and strive to bring game creation to the next level.
Details ➡️ https://t.co/bazTaaeO60 pic.twitter.com/mQvWcxduIY

— NetEase Games_EN (@NetEaseGames_EN) January 24, 2022

In a Famitsu interview conducted with the CEO himself, Nagoshi stated that he and his partners left Sega because they didn’t want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. This allows his creative juices to flow as he’ll once again oversee game development personally, and that there are less constraints in NetEase as compared to his time in Sega. For their first project, he teased that the team will focus on developing something that will appeal to a broader audience, is larger in scale, and is something that they haven’t done before.

While Nagoshi and the former members from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have moved on from the Yakuza games, Sega is still actively working on future Yakuza titles as teased by Lost Judgement director Kazuki Hosokawa which you can read about here.

Thanks Nibel!