Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creator of the Yakuza series of games and Sega’s Chief Creative Officer, will be stepping down from his current role and back into the shoes of a creative director. Since his new role is more hands-in with game development rather than overseeing the production as a whole, this has lead to some fans hoping that we’ll see more of this legendary director’s influence in future games.
The change in leadership roles was announced via press release distributed yesterday, which states that Toshihiro Nagoshi “will continue to serve as Creative Director of SEGA Corporation”. The release does not give any reasoning for the change in leadership and may be a result of general corporate restructuring. At the same time, it may also mean that SEGA has a plan in the works for Toshihiro. We’ll need to wait for future announcements to know for sure.
Toshihiro Nagoshi has worked on several beloved SEGA franchises, such as Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball, and Virtua Striker, to name just a few. He was the general director for the Yakuza series up until Yakuza 0 in 2015, when he stepped up into the executive producer role. In 2011, he founded Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, an in-house SEGA development team that was dedicated to developing the Yakuza series. He was also the executive producer for 2018’s Judgement and 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
About the Author
Edie W-K
she/her
If it isn't video games, Edie doesn't care about it. She's been playing games since the N64 era, and only spent enough time away from her 3DS to earn a Bachelor in Games Design from RMIT.
