Toshihiro Nagoshi, President and Representative Director of the titular game development studio, recently interviewed with IGN Japan and spoke about his new company’s future. Just last month NetEase announced they were supporting the burgeoning company. When asked why NetEase was chosen as a partner Nagoshi stated that it was “because they are developers who make things. We are also developers, so it was great that we could feel the straight sympathy.”
Despite this kinship, Nagoshi Studio plans to focus on console titles as opposed to mobile games which NetEase appears to favor. After years with Sega as the creative source behind the successful Yakuza franchise, it is clear that Nagoshi aims to maintain his fundamental focus that worked in the past while adventuring into the studio’s future. “Well, when the team and I decided to start a new studio, we knew we’d be leaving the content we had previously been working on behind. But I also have a strong mental attitude and a lot of ideas I would like to try, which could even surpass my previous work, so I was confident that leaving the old series behind will afford the chance to try new things.”
None of these new things have any definitive details, so far, but the main ideas are: drama, global reach, purity, and high quality. When discussing the potential setting, voice actors, and more, Nagoshi was quoted as saying, “there must be something stronger, such as an emotional story, or the balance between gameplay and storytelling, and the overall quality being high. So for our next game to be a worldwide success, I don’t think the setting is that important. If the drama is good, then people in France will be moved by a Takeshi Kitano movie, and we in Japan can enjoy a movie from India. If the quality is good then anyone anywhere should be able to enjoy it. I want to return to that pure element of entertainment.”