Daisuke Satō has officially departed Nagoshi Studio, according to updates across his social media accounts where he now identifies as an "ex-Nagoshi Studio" employee. The shift came as the studio faces significant financial headwinds after parent company NetEase Games withdrew funding earlier this year.

NetEase Games cut support for Nagoshi Studio in May 2026, according to reporting from Bloomberg in March. The Chinese parent company determined that the studio's in-development game would require an additional 7 billion yen (approximately $44.4 million USD) to complete, prompting the decision to scale back operations.

Satō's departure marks a major change for the Tokyo studio, which was founded in January 2022 by legendary game creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and Satō following their exit from Sega in October 2021. The pair were instrumental in creating Sega's Yakuza (Ryū ga Gotoku) franchise before forming their independent venture with backing from NetEase. Satō served as a producer at the studio, while Nagoshi took the role of Representative Director and CEO.

The studio's situation grew more dire as Nagoshi Studio's official website became unavailable as of late June. Weekly Famitsu magazine's July 2/9 issue also reclassified Satō as a general game developer rather than listing him in his producer role, signaling the organizational shift underway.

Nagoshi Studio announced the action game Gang of Dragons at The Game Awards in December 2025, but the studio's financial troubles have cast doubt on its future. The title remains listed on Steam, though its development status is now unclear.

The studio's founding team included eight core members: Nagoshi and Satō, alongside artists Kazuki Hosokawa and Naoki Someya, programmer Koji Tokieda, game designer Masao Shirosaki, engineer Mitsunori Fujimoto, director Taichi Ushioda, and artist Toshihiro Ando. NetEase Games, headquartered in Guangzhou, China, created the Tokyo-based studio as part of its game development portfolio expansion before the recent retrenchment.