Is Gang of Dragon Cancelled? NetEase Pulls Funding From Yakuza Creator
The debut game from the legendary Yakuza creator is fighting for survival after NetEase abruptly pulled its funding. Here is everything we know about the studio's future.
It has barely been three months since Gang of Dragon was officially revealed at The Game Awards, but the highly anticipated title from legendary Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi is already fighting for its life.
According to a new report from Bloomberg, Chinese tech giant NetEase informed employees at Nagoshi Studio on Friday, March 6, that they will be completely pulling funding for the game by this coming May.
If Nagoshi cannot find emergency backup funding in the next two months, Gang of Dragon will likely be cancelled, and the entire studio could be forced to shut down.
Why is NetEase Pulling the Plug?
Nagoshi Studio was founded in 2021 after Toshihiro Nagoshi famously left Sega to build something completely new under the NetEase umbrella.
However, according to the Bloomberg report, NetEase executives recently discovered that Gang of Dragon would require at least ¥7 billion (roughly £33 million / $46 million USD) in additional funding just to cross the finish line and be in a ready state.
This staggering budget requirement appears to have been the final straw for NetEase, a company that has been aggressively slashing its global gaming investments. Over the last two years, NetEase has gutted funding for the Mass Effect veteran-led Worlds Untold, executed massive internal job cuts, and completely shuttered other Western studios.
Can Gang of Dragon Be Saved?
As of right now, Gang of Dragon is not officially dead, but it is on life support.
Toshihiro Nagoshi is reportedly scrambling to find alternate investors to cover the remaining development costs before the May deadline. To make matters worse, NetEase essentially holds the game hostage. While they have told Nagoshi Studio they can continue development, sources claim NetEase is demanding the studio take on the massive relevant costs if they want to keep the IP, assets, or branding.
Considering Gang of Dragon only exists as a cinematic pre-rendered trailer right now—with zero actual gameplay shown to the public—convincing a new publisher to drop £33 million to rescue the project is going to be a monumental task.
Sarah’s Take: The gaming industry is absolutely brutal right now. Seeing a visionary like Nagoshi potentially lose his studio before releasing a single game shows that nobody is safe from corporate budget cuts. We will be watching the May deadline closely.
