With recent rumors having indicated that NetEase Games was pulling the plug on funding Toshihiro Nagoshi’s Gang of Dragon, it looks like the official YouTube page hosting the title’s reveal trailer has now gone offline. It is worth noting that Nagoshi hasn’t yet made any official statement regarding the state of the game’s development.
The trailer itself can still be found on other YouTube channels, including the official one for The Game Awards, where it was first unveiled. The Nagoshi Studios X account also remains online, and the pinned post still links to the original reveal trailer for Gang of Dragon. However, the last post made on the account was all the way back in early February. Interestingly, even the Steam page remains online.
A spokesperson had said that the decision to cut funding for Gang of Dragon came from the fact that it was going to need ¥7 billion for development, which roughly translates to around $44.4 million. With the end of the partnership, Nagoshi Studios would need to pay NetEase Games for the IP and assets if it wanted to continue the game’s development. In the meantime, Nagoshi himself is noted to be in the hunt for “new sponsors.”
Gang of Dragon is the first game by Nagoshi, who is known for his hand in creating the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise. He founded Nagoshi Studios back in 2022 after his departure from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios, and was said to have been working on the title since then.
When he first founded his studio, Nagoshi had said that he wanted to create an “open atmosphere” where developers would have a lot of freedom, since “even the most talented creators cannot fully unleash their abilities in isolation.” This means that the studio also has “open-ended discussions that ignore seniority and hierarchy” and “not fearing mistakes while also not being afraid to correct them, and treating failures as assets.”
The game was going to focus on Kabuchiko – the nightlife district of Shinjuku, Tokyo – and would star Ma Dong-seok as protagonist Shin Ji-seong. The character was described as a high-ranking member of a Korean crime syndicate based out of Kabukicho, with the game’s story revolving around a large conflict between various underworld factions. Interestingly, the real-world location of Kabukicho also serves as the inspiration behind the Yakuza franchise’s Kamurocho.
Gang of Dragon was going to feature real-time action combat with a third-person perspective. The core focus would have revolved around melee combat featuring brutal hand-to-hand strikes and blade attacks, along with some gunplay for the larger fights. It was also going to include driving sequences.
In an interview, Nagoshi had explained that everything in Gang of Dragon was “conceived and built from the ground up.” He also described its story as a “human drama centered on outcasts living in the real district of Kabukicho.”
“From the cityscape and world setting to the overall gameplay experience, every element has been conceived and built from the ground up as we move forward with planning and development,” he said. “Our team remains fully committed to creating a work that we can confidently deliver to players around the world.”
Gang of Dragon never got a release date.
