Julius Posted October 8, 2021 Posted October 8, 2021 (edited) End of an era. Guess the recent rumours about Nagoshi leaving SEGA for NetEase were true I wonder if this means Daisuke Sato is heading there with him? Quote As I depart from SEGA, I'm also leaving my position as the head of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Thank you to three fans who have supported us and the Yakuza series for many years. You have my sincerest and deepest gratitude. I persisted and am here now thanks to what I learned from many people around me. It's credit to the colleagues who supported such that I could hone my mindset to continuously push boundaries. As of today, a new Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is born where the series will live on. Though I don't know for sure what they will create, I believe the new generation will further enhance the foundation we built over the years and deliver great games to the world. To achieve that, they need to continue to learn, challenge themselves, and grow. I ask that you continue your support of the studio's endeavours. Once again, I would like to express my deepest appreciation of all of you. Thank you so much for your support. Stay tuned for the many new beginnings! Quote Thank you very much for your continued support of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. On a personal note, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that I am leaving SEGA to take a different path. Going forward, Series Producer Yokoyama will succeed the Studio Lead Position, and Producer Sakamoto and Director Horii will become core leaders within Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. I have been involved in Yakuza's development from the beginning and served as head of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for 9 years, so I feel a strong attachment towards it. It is sad to leave the place and colleagues who I shared many ups and downs with, but Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has grown to a strong organization after 10 years since it's birth. I believe that the studio has the power to not only continue the Yakuza series, but also to carry on that momentum even further beyond. The studio's talented personnel are very capable of accomplishing this, which is why I can leave it in their care with confidence. And a very Yakuza-looking photo of the new Ryu Ga Gotoku family captains: Masayoshi Yokoyama (who has been working on the games since Yakuza 2, and directed and wrote the script for Yakuza 5) will be stepping up to the position of Studio Lead. More details on the restructure on RGG's site here. For anyone interested, this Archipel video is an excellent look at Nagoshi's time at RGG: Edited January 24, 2022 by Julius 1 1
Happenstance Posted October 8, 2021 Posted October 8, 2021 Glad to see I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like the battle change in Yakuza so left the series…
Dcubed Posted October 8, 2021 Posted October 8, 2021 Sad news. SEGA loses one of its last remaining big stars, and with it, one of the last remnants of its history. Will be interesting to see if more games start hitting Switch now that he can’t block their release anymore though.
Aperson Posted October 12, 2021 Posted October 12, 2021 Yakuza fans are now officially in Sonic territory. Guy also made Super Monkey Ball so he's responsible for two of Sega's biggest post-manufacturer series. Yakuza isn't really a series I've played much but I wish the new guys good luck...
Julius Posted January 24, 2022 Author Posted January 24, 2022 (edited) An update on this: alongside 8 other former members of SEGA/Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and under the banner of NetEase, Toshihiro Nagoshi will lead the aptly named Nagoshi Studio. Really curious to see how this plays out. RGG is a big team but that's a lot of big and longtime players to lose with the franchise at a crossroads, and I'm of course intrigued by the possibilities of what we might see from Nagoshi Studio. I'd bite off Nagoshi's hand and give him a hook for a hand to make him a pirate if we basically got Yakuza set in Hong Kong. On the one hand I love the absurdity Yakuza is known to bring to the mundane day-to-day, so would honestly just love a game centred around an office job, what with its politics and intricacies of getting to learn about something you might not otherwise, but at the same time, I'd love something more akin to Shenmue, with a bit more of a journey and destination to it. Let's travel around Hong Kong and then get to see other parts of Asia explored, damn it! Edited January 24, 2022 by Julius 1
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