Toshihiro Nagoshi confirms he is leaving Sega, Yakuza series producer Daisuke Sato also exits the company

After initial rumors surfaced in August, Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creator of well-liked franchises equivalent to Yakuza and Monkey Ball, is formally leaving Sega after greater than 30 years with the corporate, together with long-time Yakuza collection producer Daisuke Sato.

In a put up to the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio official web site, each builders confirmed that they’d be departing, whereas the studio itself introduced it might be transitioning to a brand new construction, with author and designer Masayoshi Yokoyama taking up for Daisuke Sato because the studio’s head director. 

Yokoyama notes that that is simply the beginning for Ryu Ga Gotoku and the group will “proceed to do our greatest and let our video games do the speaking” as they press ahead with improvement on Yakuza and Misplaced Judgement titles. 

For Nagoshi, he not solely leaves Sega, an organization he has been a part of since 1989, but additionally a sport franchise and studio he helped construct from the bottom up, although he is able to see what this new Ryu Ga Gotoku can do. 

“As of immediately, a brand new Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is born the place the collection will reside on,” Nagoshi said. “Although I don’t know for positive what they’ll create, I consider the brand new technology will additional improve the inspiration we constructed through the years and ship nice video games to the world. To attain that, they too have to proceed to study, problem themselves, and develop. I ask that you just proceed your help of the studio’s endeavors.”

Sato can also be leaving Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku. He joined Sega in 1995, started working with Nagoshi in 1996 on numerous tasks, and continued doing so, ultimately changing into studio head of Ryu Ga Gotoku and a lead designer and producer for the Yakuza collection. 

Whereas he’s unhappy to depart a spot he helped construct, he believes Ryu Ga Gotoku will proceed to develop as the brand new construction is put in place. 

“It’s unhappy to depart the place and colleagues who I shared many ups and downs with, however Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has grown to a powerful group after 10 years since its start,” Sato said. “I consider that the studio has the ability to not solely proceed the Yakuza collection, but additionally to hold on that momentum even additional past. The studio’s gifted personnel are very able to carrying out this, which is why I can depart it of their care with confidence.”

Neither Nagoshi nor Sato gave their causes for leaving Ryu Ga Gotoku, and Sega as a complete. Nevertheless, contemplating their greater than 20-year historical past of working collectively, it’s possible their subsequent enterprise might be one and the identical. 

The preliminary reviews of Nagoshi’s depature talked about that he could create a brand new studio beneath Chinese language media firm NetEase. 

As for Ryu Ga Gotoku, Yokoyama confirmed {that a} direct sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon is at present in improvement with plans to launch inside the subsequent yr. The studio can also be planning to announce a brand new title in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later that the builders hope can have followers saying “that is what we’re ready for.”