In recent interviews, the Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi has expressed a wish for his studio to do something else than just the Yakuza series. But so far, they have only made specifically Yakuza titles and the spin-off series Judgement (which is getting a new installation next month when Lost Judgment is released).
Perhaps this is the reason why Nagoshi now seems to seek new opportunities, according to Bloomberg. They claim he is about to sign a deal with the Chinese giant NetEase, which lets him create a brand new studio.
Nagoshi is one of the real veterans from Sega and started there in 1989, so this would of course be a huge loss, at the same time it would strengthen NetEase a lot. The deal is in "final negotiations", and we look forward to seeing what this brilliant mind can create with a new studio in the future.