Sega CS R&D Dept. No. 1, (セガ 第一CS研究開発部) doing business as Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, (龍が如くスタジオ) is a Japanese video game developer and a division of Sega. It is known for developing the games in the Like a Dragon series, which the studio is named after since Yakuza 5, and the Super Monkey Ball series.[2][3]
The studio's origins can be traced back to Sega AM11 in 1998, which was renamed to R&D4 or AM4 in 1999.[4] It was headed by Toshihiro Nagoshi, who joined Sega AM2 in 1989 and has been credited as the creator of the arcade games Daytona USA and Virtua Striker.[5][6] Although Virtua Striker is attributed to another developer, Satoshi Mifune.[7] Nagoshi requested his own development division during the development of Shenmue.[8]
In 2000, AM4 was re-established as Amusement Vision, (アミューズメントヴィジョン) where it was best known for Super Monkey Ball and F-Zero GX.[9][10] Several structural changes occurred in the years that followed. During a reorganization in 2003, the non-sports staff of Smilebit merged with Amusement Vision,[11] and a year later Sega merged with Sammy to form Sega Sammy Holdings. Amusement Vision became New Entertainment R&D Dept. and the first Like a Dragon game was released. Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! was the last Like a Dragon game to be developed under the New Entertainment R&D name.[12]
Since Yakuza 3, they were referred to as Sega's CS1 team, all the way up to Yakuza: Dead Souls.[13] The first game to use the RGG logo was Binary Domain in Japan, released in February 2012. Eventually, the RGG Studio's logo became used consistently and the way they brand themselves and give themselves an identity of their own. The current iteration of the logo was introduced during the announcement of the western release of Yakuza Kiwami 2 in 2018.[14] The studio's logo and name have become recognizable internationally for Sega as a whole, although studio leader Masayoshi Yokoyama stresses that it is not a separate company organization but a nickname for a development team within Sega.[15][16][17][18]
History
Amusement Vision
Toshihiro Nagoshi joined Sega in 1989 as a designer.[19] As Sega began developing 3D games such as Virtua Racing, he was able to apply his knowledge of film in choosing the right camera angles in three dimensional spaces, something that the other team members had no experience with.[20][21] Nagoshi became producer, director and chief designer of Daytona USA, which became one of the most successful arcade games of all time.[22] Next he worked on another racing game, Scud Race, which, while successful, did not make as much money as Daytona USA. Nagoshi felt pressure to constantly deliver racing games as he became known for the genre in the company.[23]
Games developed
As Amusement Vision
As New Entertainment / CS1 R&D
As Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Marketing
The RGG Studio logo was established in late August 2011,[77] and was first used to promote Binary Domain in Japan back in February 2012. RGG Studio strives to be consumer facing as fan communication is done in-house via social media and real life events, rather than simply using retailers and online game platforms, like a B2B business.[78]
Issues and controversies with real life actors
Prior to the release of Yakuza 4 Remastered in 2018 in Japan, Sega recasts the voice actor and likeness of one of its playable characters. The character, voiced and based of the likeness of Hiroki Narimiya, was forced to be recast after the actor announced his retirement from the acting industry in 2016 over drug allegations[79]
Sega released Judgment in Japan on December 13, 2018.[80] Japanese sales of the game was temporarily halted on March 13, 2019, after Pierre Taki, a Japanese actor whose voice and likeness had been used for the character of Kyohei Hamura, was arrested for cocaine possession and use by officers of the Narcotics Control Department (NCD) of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.[81] According to the NCD, Taki had been under investigation since 2018 following tips from unnamed sources[82][83]
See also
References
- Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is Working on a New IP 17 November 2021, retrieved May 23, 2022^
- Yakuza 5 in development, Yakuza studio formed Shacknews, 31 August 2011, retrieved 2021-06-22^
- Gamer, 細山田 亮太. http://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/201108310021/ www.gamer.ne.jp, retrieved 2021-06-23