Toshihiro Nagoshi

Toshihiro Nagoshi
名越 稔洋
Nagoshi in 2014
Born	(1965-06-17) June 17, 1965 (age 59) Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
Alma mater	Tokyo Zokei University
Occupation(s)	Game producer, designer, director
Years active	1989–present
Employer(s)	Sega (1989–2021) Nagoshi Studio (2021–present)
Notable work	Super Monkey Ball Like a Dragon Daytona USA F-Zero GX Binary Domain
Signature

Toshihiro Nagoshi (Japanese: 名越 稔洋, Hepburn: Nagoshi Toshihiro, born June 17, 1965) is a Japanese video game producer, director and designer. He was the chief creative officer^[1] for Sega until 2021 when he became creative director. He went on to be the general director of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio,^[2] and later became a member of the board of directors for Atlus.^[3] He joined Sega in 1989.^[4] After 30 years in the company, Nagoshi left Sega to join NetEase in late 2021, where he founded the studio Nagoshi Studio.^[5]

Career

Working at Sega AM2

Nagoshi graduated from Tokyo Zokei University with a degree in movie production and joined Sega shortly thereafter, working for the second arcade department (AM2) under Yu Suzuki as a CG designer.^[6] His first title as a designer was Virtua Racing. It was then when he found his niche at Sega due to his study of movies being useful at adjusting and implementing the right camera angles in early 3D games; this was a major turning point for him at Sega. Before that point, he stated, "It really didn't take long for me to feel like I had come to the wrong place. But when I said I was lucky before, it's because during the time I began working, 2D was on its way out, and the industry was switching to 3D." According to Nagoshi, despite the fact the change to 3D had occurred, "nobody had actually studied the techniques needed to work in a 3D space." He knew the basics and gave them advice; it was easier for him to apply his knowledge after the transition to 3D took place.^[7][8] Afterwards, he worked on Daytona USA, where he was made director. He came into this role after managing to edit a preview movie of the game for an arcade show. Daytona USA was the first game to use the Sega Model 2 arcade hardware which produced very advanced graphics and was developed jointly with General Electrics, which was located in the US. When Nagoshi paid them a visit, he happened to see a NASCAR race, which inspired Daytona USA initially. Tom Petit, president of Sega's arcade division in America also was in favour of NASCAR.^[9] In Japan, only F1 racing games were popular, though Nagoshi decided to not develop one. He also says that he stayed persistent in creating a more difficult kind of game. The development of Daytona USA brought great responsibility for Nagoshi as he was promoted into leadership positions relatively fast. His next project, Scud Race, became once again a very technologically advanced game, however due to expenses, made less money than Daytona USA, though still made profit. Afterwards, he mentioned he did not want to make any racing games anymore, thinking that he graduated from the genre. Next, he worked on Spikeout, a cooperative beat em 'up with up to four players. It was well received by players, although arcade operators complained that it didn't bring in much money, due to the players not needing many credits if they properly work together. Shenmue was the last time he worked with AM2 and Yu Suzuki; he first was a supervisor on the project but was dissatisfied with how the game went and asked for his own development division, which later became Amusement Vision. However, he was called in by the CEO at the time to get the game finished, and as a result, he had to serve as producer and director on the final months of development. The CEO knew that Nagoshi was the only person that Suzuki trusted.^[10] Nagoshi has said that there is no developer that he learnt more from than Suzuki.^[8]

CEO of Amusement Vision

In 2000, Sega restructured its arcade and console development teams into nine semi-autonomous studios headed by the company's top designers.^[11] Nagoshi became president of the studio Amusement Vision, and he was not sure on how to approach his new role at first. He thought that consistently making profit would be for the best. His approach worked, as he was promoted to officer alongside Yuji Naka and Hisao Oguchi, who also ran profitable studios in the form of Naka's Sonic Team and Oguchi's Hitmaker.

Nagoshi became interested in console development as a result of Sega leaving the hardware business. Specifically, he was interested in developing for Nintendo and acquired information about the GameCube at an early stage. The CEO of Sega at the time complained that games became too expensive to make, and Nagoshi told him that they couldn't do it any cheaper. As a type of protest, he developed a very simple and inexpensive game that just needed a lever to control with no buttons, just to prove that it was possible. That game was Super Monkey Ball, which initially launched as just Monkey Ball in the arcades. It didn't sell well in Japan, but became a hit overseas. The CEO was impressed, assuming that Nagoshi had the western market in mind, which Nagoshi didn't at all. As a game developer, Nagoshi wanted to know how Nintendo worked, and wanted to be a sub-contractor for them. After some thought in regards to which Nintendo franchise he wanted to work on, Nagoshi ended up developing an entry for the F-Zero franchise, which was F-Zero GX. While Nagoshi could not convince Nintendo on several things, Nintendo was considerably impressed by the final product and asked for the source code of the game, as the game achieved a much higher quality than they anticipated. The game also sold really well, which gave the team confidence in being a third party developer. When asked about the differences in how Nintendo and Sega developed games, he would sum it up with Sega being more flashy and having a more light-hearted attitude when it comes to new ideas. Nagoshi says that if he started working at Nintendo instead of Sega, he would have already quit the videogame industry.^[8]

Development of Yakuza and company promotions

Nagoshi decided not to compete with big western companies such EA, Activision and Rockstar and decided to double down on the Japanese market instead. With the game Ryu Ga Gotoku, which then was localized as Yakuza in western markets, the only market left was the Japanese adult male^{[citation needed]}. After a reorganization, Nagoshi's team became bigger after the non-sports staff of Smilebit moved to Amusement Vision, thereby falling under Nagoshi's responsibility. Amusement Vision and Smilebit had different cultures and strengths, so Nagoshi thought it'd be best for the staff morale to start from scratch and to develop a new IP in the form of Yakuza. By 2005, Amusement Vision was called New Entertainment R&D, which Nagoshi managed. The game had a difficult development cycle, as the first pitch was rejected by the higher-ups, due to expecting something different out of Nagoshi. At the time, Sega and Sammy merged to form Sega Sammy Holdings. The new owner and CEO of Sega Sammy, Hajime Satomi saw footage of Yakuza that was forcibly sneaked in a preview of upcoming Sega games, despite that it wasn't officially a project yet. Despite Sega executives viewing the game as an unprofitable risk due to its lack of broader appeal, Satomi took an interest in it.^[12] Through perseverance and Satomi's backing, Nagoshi managed to get the project started. It was his most personal project, as the people in the game are often named after people that Nagoshi knew personally. The main character Kazuma Kiryu is named after someone very dear to him.^[13] The stories are also based on his real life experiences in dating, partying and overall just having fun.^[10]

When developing the Yakuza franchise, Nagoshi learned the difference between nurturing one IP and making many types of genres during his time at Sega AM2 and Amusement Vision. He thought it was very valuable to see both sides.^[8] As of 2009, Nagoshi supervised all research and development of consumer game development at Sega.^[14] In 2010, Nagoshi's project Binary Domain was revealed, which was his desire to tell a science fiction story, while also developing a game that actively competed against popular western games at the time.^[15][16]

In February 2012 it was announced that Nagoshi would be promoted to the role of chief creative officer at Sega of Japan, as well as being appointed to the company's board of directors. He took up these positions on April 1, 2012.^[17] In October 2013, once Sega Sammy purchased the bankrupt Index Corporation under the shell corporation, Sega Dream Corporation, Nagoshi was appointed as a member of the board of directors for the reformed Atlus.^[18] As CCO, Nagoshi keeps being close to the games that his studio at Sega develops and stays up to date on the newest systems and technologies, although that is getting harder for him as he gets older. For the scripts of the Yakuza games, he still stays very involved, writing and adjusting whenever he feels like it.^[19]

In 2014, Nagoshi was involved in the multimedia kids franchise, Hero Bank, a superhero game that has money as a very important theme despite being aimed at kids.^[20]

With the 2016 game Yakuza 6: The Song of Life the story of Kazuma Kiryu ended. Nagoshi wants to continue to explore different types of drama and expand the overall playerbase further.

In January 2021, it was announced by Sega that Nagoshi would not be chief creative officer anymore but instead would take creative director as a position.^[21]

Establishment of Nagoshi Studio

In October 2021, it was announced that Nagoshi would be leaving both Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio along with series director Daisuke Sato. The series producer and writer Masayoshi Yokoyama would become the new studio head in place of Nagoshi who was in the position since the beginning.^[22]

Nagoshi, Daisuke Sato, along with several other former SEGA employees established a new studio called Nagoshi Studio, which will be a subsidiary under NetEase Games.^[23]

Personal life

Nagoshi grew up in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, in a small port town. He had a close relationship with his grandmother more than anyone else. His father was known to be in perpetual debt, something for which Nagoshi was frequently ostracized by other children. As an adult, he elected to leave his hometown for Tokyo and enroll into Tokyo Zokei University. Nagoshi has said that his interest in video games and game development was sparked when his girlfriend at the time gave him a Famicom with a copy of Super Mario Bros.. After gradually working his way up at Sega, he decided to return to his hometown in an effort to repay all of his father's numerous debts. In a tragic turn of events, a fire burned down his childhood home and claimed the life of his grandmother. His parents were physically unscathed, though his mother was left mentally scarred to such an extreme extent that she allegedly could not even recognize her own family. As a result of this, Nagoshi's relationship with his father deepened. Nagoshi has said that these events served as the primary source of inspiration for Yakuza's narrative.^[13]

Asked about his personal appearance, fashion style and how it changed over time, Nagoshi says he adapts to what his current girlfriend is into.^[24]

Games

List of video game production credits

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Notes/Additional Roles	Ref.
1990	G-LOC: Air Battle	No	No	Designer	[25]
1991	Rent a Hero	No	No		[26]
1992	Virtua Racing	No	No	Chief designer	[19]
1993	Virtua Fighter	No	No	CG designer	[13]
1994	Daytona USA	Yes	Yes	Chief designer	[10]
	Virtua Fighter 2	No	No	Stage designer	[27]
1996	Scud Race	Yes	Yes		[27]
	Virtua Fighter 3	No	No	Character modeling director Supervisor	[27]
1998	SpikeOut	Yes	Yes	Chief designer	[27]
	Daytona USA 2	No	Yes		[27]
1999	Shenmue	No	No	Supervisor[a]	[27][19]
2000	Slashout	No	Yes		[27]
	Planet Harriers	Yes	Yes		[27]
2001	Daytona USA 2001	Yes	Yes	Design director	[27]
	Spikers Battle	No	Yes		[27]
	Monkey Ball	Yes	Yes		[13]
	Super Monkey Ball	Yes	Yes		[27]
2002	Super Monkey Ball 2	Yes	Yes		[27]
	Super Monkey Ball Jr.	Yes	Yes		[27]
2003	F-Zero GX	No	Yes		[27][28]
2005	Spikeout: Battle Street	No	Yes		[27]
	Super Monkey Ball: Touch & Roll	Yes	Yes		[27]
	Yakuza	No	Yes	General supervisor	[27]
2006	Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz	Yes	Yes		[27]
	Yakuza 2	Executive		Original concept	[27]
2008	Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan!	Executive		Original concept	[29]
2009	Yakuza 3	Executive		Original concept	[27]
2010	Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō	Executive		Scenario writer	[30]
	Yakuza 4	Executive			[27]
2011	Yakuza: Dead Souls	Executive			[27]
2012	Binary Domain	Executive			[31]
	Kurohyō 2: Ryū ga Gotoku Ashura hen	Executive		Scenario writer
	Yakuza 5	Executive			[32][33]
2014	Hero Bank	No	Yes		[20]
	Like a Dragon: Ishin!	Executive			[34][35]
2015	Yakuza 0	Executive			[27]
2016	Yakuza Kiwami	Executive			[27]
	Yakuza 6: The Song of Life	Executive			[27]
2017	Yakuza Kiwami 2	Executive			[27]
2018	Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise	Executive			[27]
	Judgment	Executive		Story	[27]
2020	Yakuza: Like a Dragon	Executive		Story	[36]
2021	Lost Judgment	Executive		Story	[37]

Select executive work

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2003	Sonic Heroes	Development division		[38]
	Sonic Battle	Executive management		[38]
	Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg			[38]
2004	Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon	Executive producer		[38]
2006	Sonic Riders	Development support		[38]
2007	Nights: Journey of Dreams	Chief producer		[38]
2008	Sonic Unleashed			[38]
	Valkyria Chronicles
	Thunder Force VI			[38]
	Phantasy Star Portable			[38]
	Phantasy Star 0			[38]
	The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return			[38]
2009	Wacky World of Sports			[38]
	Sonic and the Black Knight			[38]
	Puyo Puyo 7			[38]
	Phantasy Star Portable 2			[38]
	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games			[38]
	7th Dragon			[38]
	Bayonetta			[38]
2010	Valkyria Chronicles II			[38]
	Vanquish			[38]
	Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll			[38]
	Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I			[38]
	Resonance of Fate			[38]
	Sonic Colors			[38]
	Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing	R&D creative officers		[38]
	Sonic Free Riders	Chief producer		[38]
2011	Super Monkey Ball 3D			[38]
	Sonic Generations			[38]
	Puyo Puyo!! 20th Anniversary			[38]
	Rise of Nightmares			[38]
	Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games	Executive supervisor		[38]
2012	The House of the Dead 4	Chief producer		[38]
	Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit	Executive producer		[38]
	Phantasy Star Online 2	Executive supervisor		[38]
	Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II	Chief producer		[38]
	Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure			[38]
	Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F	Executive producer		[38]
2013	Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games	Executive supervisor		[38]
	Sonic Lost World	Chief producer		[38]
2014	Puyo Puyo Tetris			[38]
	Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd	Executive producer		[38]
2015	Tembo the Badass Elephant			[38]
	Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX	Executive supervisor		[38]
2016	Puyo Puyo Chronicle	Chief producer		[38]
	Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice			[38]
	Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games	Executive supervisor		[38]
2017	Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone	Executive producer		[38]
	Valkyria Revolution			[38]
	Sonic Mania			[38]
	Sonic Forces			[38]
2018	Puyo Puyo Champions			[38]
	Shining Resonance Refrain			[38]
	Valkyria Chronicles 4			[38]
2019	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020			[38]
	Team Sonic Racing			[38]
	Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD	Executive management		[38]
	Sakura Wars	Executive producer		[38]
2021	Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown	Creative director		[39]
	Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania	Executive management		[40]

References

1. Director and producer for last 6 months of development

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