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News Toshihiro Nagoshi Leaves Sega

Waluijob

Waluijob

Embracer of the Wah
Pronouns
He/His
It's official! After a month of rumors, he is officially leaving Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Source: The studio itself.

As I depart from SEGA, I’m also leaving my position as the head of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Thank you to the 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 too need to continue to learn, challenge themselves, and grow. I ask that you continue your support of the studio’s endeavors.

Once again, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all of you. Thank you so much for your support. Stay tuned for the many new beginnings!
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This is the man responsible for Super Monkey Ball, Yakuza, and so much more.
 
Not just Nagoshi, Daisuke Sato (Studio Lead, also directed 3 and Binary Domain.) is coming with him.
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Definitely an unexpected twist, i wonder if he's also joining Netease like the rumours suggested?
 
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Interesting timing. But it makes sense since he already stepped down as the CCO of Sega and from the board of directors.

Waluijob said:
It's official! After a month of rumors, he is officially leaving Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Source: The studio itself.


This is the man responsible for Super Monkey Ball, Yakuza, and so much more.
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Don't forget F-Zero AX/GX!
 
Beat of luck to him, he’s worked on a number of great games over the years.

e: and to Sato as well.
 
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I hope he can some day give us games as good as Super Monkey Ball 2 and Yakuza 6, wherever he ends up.
 
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Not exactly sad he's leaving. Sad for Yakuza fans obviously, but if you've never played Yakuza and only play on Nintendo systems, then this definitely could be good news for those in that camp *cough*.

Oh and before anyone goes "But Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania!", wrong. He and Daisuke Sato predictably are only credited as Executive Management. Basically as nothing a credit as possible. They just run the studio but didn't actively work on the game in any meaningful way.



At 4:32.
 
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Hero of Legend said:
Not exactly sad he's leaving. Sad for Yakuza fans obviously, but if you've never played Yakuza and only play on Nintendo systems, then this definitely could be good news for those in that camp *cough*.
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Aint he on record saying that Switch is a console for kid/ Teens??

IIRC he also was not happy that Nintendo turned down a Pitch for Yakuza back near the end of Wii era ??
 
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Hero of Legend said:
Not exactly sad he's leaving. Sad for Yakuza fans obviously, but if you've never played Yakuza and only play on Nintendo systems, then this definitely could be good news for those in that camp *cough*.

Oh and before anyone goes "But Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania!", wrong. He and Daisuke Sato predictably are only credited as Executive Management. Basically as nothing a credit as possible. They just run the studio but didn't actively work on the game in any meaningful way.



At 4:32.
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i like the yakuza games but they're pretty meaty and im only able to finish those on the switch as my back cant stand being sitted down for gaming marathons. So, yeah, i would really like to play yakuza 0 on the switch
 
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Sad to see Nagoshi go but cautiously optimistic for the future of the Yakuza franchise. It's got such a great modular design framework that one or two creative departures shouldn't kill it. If anything, things could get even wilder and more experimental.
 
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Good for him after his recent "demotion". I guess he's gonna go to NetEase now and work on games he couldn‘t make at Sega.

Not worried about Yakuza tbh. The series looks like it‘s in capable hands.
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
Good for him after his recent "demotion". I guess he's gonna go to NetEase now and work on games he couldn‘t make at Sega.

Not worried about Yakuza tbh. The series looks like it‘s in capable hands.
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Why are you speaking about yourself in third person?

For anyone confused, it is an old in-joke, do not worry about it
 
Dunban said:
Interesting timing. But it makes sense since he already stepped down as the CCO of Sega and from the board of directors
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he didn't really step down, he was demoted after making a series of bad decisions for sega.
 
Well that is the end of an era.


I will eat a cheese beef bowl in his honour.
 
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Thats probably the best for all involved parties, i think the studio will be fine without him.
Interested to see how they are gonna handle the Like a Drake sequel.
 
Quoted by: pld
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yeah, they were a huge presence over at Sega and RGG and they will be missed but I think the people taking over are quite talented and trustworthy. Yokohama-san has been with that series for a long time and it's nice to see him take over the reigns for the studio.

also that LAD2/Y8 tease has me giddy 👀
 
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Made a real great full series, gave foundations to a new one and more. Good luck in his future endeavors.
 
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Honestly, unless you liked nothing but Sonic, Yakuza or Monkey Ball, Nagoshi has been terrible. I put a lot of the blame for their total disinterest in most of their own IP down to "I didn't work on this, so I don't really care". Any series he didn't create that made it out is because it's a reliable money-maker and/or sunk cost fallacy.

I can't imagine anyone who steps up being worse, unless they hire someone from Konami.
 
Hope that he does well at NetEase! He's produced some incredible stuff. From the excellent Yakuza series, to the addictive Super Monkey Ball games, and even Nintendo's all time classic F-Zero GX. I still go back and play GX every now and then, and that game simply wouldn't be what it is without him. And before leaving Sega, he even gave us one last gift: Monkey Ball Mania!

Absolute legend. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next!
 
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RGG Studios is pretty much the one SEGA studio that carries the entire company, alongside their smaller PC stuff, so it's definitely not good news that their two leads are getting poached by NetEase.
 
The new heads of RGG Studio are people who have worked on the series in leadership roles for years at this point, so i'm not too worried.

Still it's a bit sad to see Nagoshi go, but i'm sure NetEase is going to let him do whatever he wants so this seems to be the best scenario for everyone involved.
 
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Kano said:
RGG Studios is pretty much the one SEGA studio that carries the entire company, alongside their smaller PC stuff, so it's definitely not good news that their two leads are getting poached by NetEase.
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I was always under the impression that Total War and Football Manager were at least as big as Yakuza.
 
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Kano said:
RGG Studios is pretty much the one SEGA studio that carries the entire company, alongside their smaller PC stuff, so it's definitely not good news that their two leads are getting poached by NetEase.
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If a SEGA is carried by a studio that has sold a grand total of 14 million Yakuza games over 15 years then SEGA is in much bigger shambles than anyone could have ever suggested.

Yakuza is a beloved franchise by it's fans but it's never been a big seller.



Best of luck to Sato and Nagoshi!
 
Never could get into Yakuza series no matter how many times I've tried, but it always sad to see such veterans leave. Especially taking into account the rumours about him leaving SEGA to join NetEase. I would like to be wrong on this one but right now it seems like he is making a mistake. Given NetEase past history, he will most likely be forced to work on yet another F2P mobile battle royale game or something. Unless NetEase plans to change their business model and buying a talent from SEGA is a first step to do so.
 
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Probably for the best for Sega going forward. Their output (outside of Yakuza) has been piss poor for the most part the past few years as he helmed the ship.
 
mazi said:
he didn't really step down, he was demoted after making a series of bad decisions for sega.
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Yeah I'm aware. I wonder if Netease is working with Sony and that's why he might go there.

Maxrunner said:
The original director of F-Zero GX is still at SEGA right?
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He's been appointed as the Chief Producer at the Yakuza studio in the article.
 
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Raccoon said:
If you hate Nintendo you deserve to lose your job tbh

(joking)

((or am I?))
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I doubt he would have left Sega, without having a new lucrative position secured. Sato announcing his departure the same day, implies a coordinated move. Will be interesting to see what they'll create going forward. Just because he was criticised for how he lead SEGA, a criticism that was confirmed valid by SEGA, doesn't mean anyone wished for him to lose his career.
 
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Mbolibombo said:
If a SEGA is carried by a studio that has sold a grand total of 14 million Yakuza games over 15 years then SEGA is in much bigger shambles than anyone could have ever suggested.

Yakuza is a beloved franchise by it's fans but it's never been a big seller.



Best of luck to Sato and Nagoshi!
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For Japan, I pretty sure it carried the console division. Outside of the Sega Europe side (Football Manager, Total War, Company of Heroes) and mobile, it has been Sega's strongest non-Sonic franchise post Dreamcast.
 
Yup, the Yakuza saga may finally be coming to the switch, maybe even a Fzero GX remake (not that Nagoshi was stopping it) I just wanted to put it in here to make make it happen somehow... Please xD
 
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Had a feeling it would be today, with RGG's two fall games now released.

Curious to see how things change at Sega over the next few years.
 
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Let’s get the new SEGA lead to realize they’re sitting on a ton of untapped revenue with getting Atlus ports on modern systems.
 
While he brought Yakuza to the limelight, Sega JP has languished. Sega is pretty much propped up by Atlus and Sega Europe. So I hope the next person in charge can bring some much needed change to the branch
 
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I am glad that other people will get the chance to rise up to the higher up roles and take the series forward - even if I never played it.

On that note, I wonder how many employees will follow the two of them to their next venture.
 
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