Continuing its efforts to recruit “talents” from Japanese studios, the Chinese NetEase is said to be finalizing the contract of Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creator of the series of Yakuza, reports Bloomberg.
The 56-year-old game designer would thus leave the SEGA house, which has employed him since his beginnings in the 90s.
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Under the nose and beard of Tencent
Embarked on a veritable war of influence against its rival Tencent (the largest video game publisher in the world), NetEase can be satisfied with having hooked a very big fish. While China is tightening the screws a little more every day on its giants of the Web in general and of video games in particular, publishers are seeking to relocate their game production in order to stay afloat, while setting out to conquer new territories which , previously looked down on China.
As part of his new job, Toshihiro Nagoshi will be responsible for creating a new studio, which will work on new licenses. The future of the Yakuza saga is not in question; the series is doing particularly well especially since the box Yakuza: Like A Dragon released last year.
Nagoshi's takeover has not been dated as his contract has yet to be finalized, the Bloomberg source reports. Questioned by the American site, neither Sega, nor Tencent, nor NetEase wished to comment on the news for the moment.
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Japan, the new El Dorado of Chinese majors
Working to combat the "video game addiction" of young Chinese and reducing the scope of investment in this area, Xi Jinping's government is pushing companies in the sector to diversify their catalog. In this case, it is the Japanese neighbor who has recently attracted all their desires.
Between them, Tencent and NetEase have already concluded about twenty partnerships with Japanese companies and personalities, and many others are still being negotiated, slip specialists. Last year, NetEase notably set up from scratch a new next-gen console game development studio in Shibuya, Japan. Sakura Studio – that's its name – is also run by another Japanese defector: Tetsuya Akatsuka, veteran of the Soul Calibur series when he worked at Bandai Namco.
In 2019, NetEase also opened a studio in Montreal, and is still more widely talked about for being at the origin of Diablo Immortal, the mobile version of Blizzard's famous hack n' slash. And with Nagoshi now in its purse, the multinational is sure to attract the attention of J-RPG enthusiasts.
Big loser in history, SEGA, already heckled following a restructuring resulting in the desertion of arcades in these times of pandemic, is now separating from one of its historical creators.
