Nagoshi Studio briefly deleted its YouTube channel on April 24, 2026, alarming fans amid ongoing funding troubles with NetEase, before restoring it the next day with no listed videos.
Fans of the Yakuza series spotted the deletion of Nagoshi Studio's YouTube channel on April 24, 2026, with social media posts on Reddit speculating that the studio—founded by Toshihiro Nagoshi post-Sega—might be shutting down. This panic was heightened by recent reports of NetEase halting funding for the studio's debut title, Gang of Dragon (see prior coverage in this series). Notably, the official trailer from The Game Awards 2025 was never on the channel and remained available elsewhere.
The channel, with a few hundred subscribers, featured only one unlisted video: a 1:21 music video 'MAKE/HUMAN' from November 2024, marking the studio's third anniversary. Nagoshi promoted it on Twitter (now X), saying it expressed the studio's identity and aspirations.
The channel was deleted on April 24 but restored by April 25 morning. The music video was accessible via direct link but not publicly listed. Neither Nagoshi Studio nor NetEase commented. While the restoration provides slight reassurance, the studio's future hinges on securing new funding after NetEase's withdrawal.