In recent years, we have seen how franchises that, years ago were relegated to “cult franchises”, have been boosted both in sales and in the number of users. Two of the most important have been the two franchises created by the Japanese studio Ryu Ga Gotoku: Yakuza and Judgment. And everything has been thanks to its excellent quality in all the works that have been released, all of them directed by the same person: Toshihiro Nagoshi. But it seems that this may change in the future, since Yakuza franchise creator Toshihiro Nagoshi could leave SEGA.
This news comes from the hand of Bloomberg, given that have obtained the exclusive on the possible departure of Nagoshi from SEGA to the Chinese company NetEase, who in recent months has been signing many Japanese developers from other companies such as Capcom, Bandai Namco or Konami, for example.
Yakuza franchise creator Toshihiro Nagoshi could leave SEGA
Exclusive: China’s NetEase is in final negotiations to poach Yakuza franchise creator Toshihiro Nagoshi from Sega. Linked below is shorter translated version in Japanese, my original in English article hitting soon. Will share when it drops. https://t.co/wLFL8dbWR1
– Takashi Mochizuki (@ 6d6f636869) August 30, 2021
Lost Judgment shows its story in a lengthy trailer
This march can mean a very important loss within SEGA and the Japanese studio, since Nagoshi is an essential figure in the development of the Yakuza and Judgment works. Let’s hope that his departure is confirmed in the last hours, but it will not sit well with the fans of the two franchises.