Yakuza Creator's Next Game Will Be Sent to Die As NetEase Implodes | Push Square

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Back when Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi left SEGA and signed up with NetEase, it was expected he’d have the resources required to make the next big thing. After all, the Chinese juggernaut was on an outrageous spending spree, with money seemingly no object at all.

Now it sounds like his next game will be sent out to die.

Expansive reports from both Bloomberg and GameFile reveal that billionaire CEO Ding Lei is on a massive money saving spree, and its overseas teams will be taking the fall. We’ve already seen evidence of this following the redundancies around hit game Marvel Rivals’ support studio in Seattle.

According to the articles, Nagoshi’s game has not been cancelled, and he will receive enough funding to finish the project. However, there’ll be no extensions and the release won’t receive any marketing at all. It’ll effectively be sent out to die.

Other studios which could be affected include Suda51’s legendary outfit Grasshopper Manufacture, which it acquired in 2022. It already shuttered Visions of Mana studio Ouka late last year.

In loosely related news, Bloomberg reports that Marvel Rivals almost didn’t release, because Ding didn’t want to pay Disney to license the game’s cast of characters, and even at one point instructed the team to create new original superhero designs to be used in the game.

NetEase investing more into game

Obviously, the hero-based online shooter has gone on to become a gigantic success, and it’s one of the titles NetEase will rally around moving forwards. But expect more industry disruption as the company scales back its operations.

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

This is why these acquisitions f**king suck! These big companies