End of an era: Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi is about to leave Sega to work with Chinese company NetEase – media

Veteran Sega Toshihiro Nagoshibest known as the creator of the series Yakuza and the head of the studio Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, is close to leaving the Japanese publishing house and the beginning of cooperation with the Chinese giant NetEase… This was reported today, on August 30, by an authoritative publication, citing its sources. Bloomberg… Nagoshi has been with Sega since 1989.

According to media reports, the papers on Nagoshi’s joining to NetEase have not yet been signed. but negotiations are at the final stage… Under the wing of the Chinese giant, the game designer is expected to form his own team to release new games. A complete list of developer responsibilities is currently being discussed.

Lost Judgment, a new game from Sega and Nagoshi, is out on September 24th.

For NetEase, bringing in Nagoshi will be a victorious episode in an unspoken war with Tencent. Both Chinese companies are actively expanding outside of China, opening new studios and investing in Western and Japanese developers. The latter, writes Bloomberg, are of particular value to the giants, and Nagoshi himself is one of the most prominent figures in the field of Japanese game development. NetEase and Tencent are also interested in anime and manga.

In the summer of 2023, NetEase formed a studio in Japan Sakura studio (Ouka Studio), which will create major games for next-gen consoles Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X | S… A veteran was appointed as its leader Bandai Namco Tetsuya Akatsuka

NetEase hopes that the console and PC games created with its support for a global audience will become big hits and will strengthen it as an international publisher. Today it is called primarily a “Chinese company”.

Toshihiro Nagoshi has not yet commented on today’s post. In 2010, he said that he could not imagine his parting with Sega, because he “became one with her.”

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