In recent years, we have seen how investment from Chinese giants in the video game industry has injected funding into Western studios and backed exciting teams and projects. However, since the summer of 2024, we have also witnessed a gradual but steady withdrawal of these investments, with the focus shifting to supporting domestic studios. This has led to the cancellation and closure of dozens of projects, and it seems that one of the most promising will finally come to an end today.
It comes as no surprise, as we learned weeks ago that NetEase was cutting ties with Nagoshi Studio. But it seems that the developer, founded by the creator of Yakuza and working on the ambitious title Gang of Dragon, has failed to find a partner to continue with the costly project, which was estimated to require a further $44 million to see the light of day.
Today, we have learnt that Nagoshi Studio has deleted all content from its YouTube channel, along with all the trailers. This is almost confirmation that the project has been abandoned entirely.
As for the future of Nagoshi Studio, everything is uncertain at the moment, but without a project to work on, it is highly likely that a large number of staff will lose their jobs, and that the studio may even announce its closure in the coming days. We will be keeping a close eye on the outcome of this sad story.