At the earlier annual gaming event, "The Game Awards 2025" (TGA 2025), in addition to the announcement of the winners of various awards, the most exciting news for Asian gamers was that Toshihiro Nagoshi, the former director of SEGA's Yakuza series, finally broke his four-year silence and officially announced his first original title after leaving SEGA, Gang of Dragon.
Featuring the "strongest uncle on earth," Ma Dong-seok, delivering a hard-hitting, visceral style.
The trailer immediately sparked a buzz on social media because the lead actor looked very familiar – it was none other than Don Lee, a well-known South Korean action star hailed as "the strongest uncle on earth".
In the first footage released, Ma Dong-seok's character clashes with gang members in a dimly lit bar. Although there is no actual gameplay footage yet, the visceral impact of the punches in the cutscenes and Ma Dong-seok's signature tough-guy image clearly fit the hard-hitting style that Toshihiro Nagoshi is known for.
The familiar Kabukicho, the lingering scent of "human dragons"
Veteran gamers will undoubtedly find the scenes in the trailer incredibly familiar, including the Kabukicho Ichiban-gai gate in Shinjuku that flashes by, as well as the overall art style, color palette, and camerawork—all imbued with a strong "Nagoshi" aesthetic. This led many players in the live stream chat to exclaim, "This is basically Ma Dong-seok's version of 'Yakuza'!"
Toshihiro Nagoshi left SEGA in 2021 after 30 years of service, and in 2022, with full investment from NetEase, he established "Nagoshi Studio" and took with him several core members of the Yakuza team, including Daisuke Sato. This game, Dragon Gang, is the first concrete result delivered by the studio since its establishment.
Analysis: Celebrity endorsement, targeting the international market.
In my opinion, Toshihiro Nagoshi has always been very good at using real actors in his games (such as Takeshi Kitano in Yakuza 6 and Takuya Kimura in Judgment). This time, he brought in Ma Dong-seok, who has accumulated high popularity in movies such as Train to Busan, Outlaws and Marvel movies. This is obviously to make this new game quickly gain popularity in the European, American and Asian markets.
Although the theme and setting seem to overlap significantly with "Yakuza," the biggest highlight of this work will be whether Meigoshi can come up with something new in the familiar "yakuza" genre and break free from the shadow of his old employer, given NetEase's more abundant financial support.
The official release schedule and platforms for "Dragon Gang" have not yet been announced, but based on NetEase's global distribution strategy, it is expected to be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
