These Netease-Owned Studios Might Be In Trouble

Chinese publisher Netease has allegedly said that it will divest from its previously-invested international studios. These include companies such as Quantic Dream, Nagoshi Studio, and Grasshopper.

While Netease has expanded in past years via acquiring studios made by industry veterans, the company may need to do some scaling back this year. Previously, Netease had split from developers Worlds Untold (led by Mass Effect writer Mac Walters) and Jar of Sparks (founded by Xbox veteran Jerry Hook). If Netease cannot secure new funding, this could lead to the closure of the following studios:

• NetEase Montreal (Watch Dogs creator Jonathan Morin)
• Quantic Dream (Heavy Rain / Detroit)
• Grasshopper Manufacture (Suda51)
• Nagoshi Studio (Toshihiro Nagoshi)
• Pincool (Dragon Quest 8 & 9 producer Ryutaro Ichimura)
• Studio Flare (BlazBlue producer Toshimichi Mori)
• GPTRACK50 (Resident Evil 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi)
• Jackalyptic Games (City of Heroes / DC Universe Online head Jack Emmert)
• T-Minus Zero Entertainment (Star Wars: The Old Republic producer Rich Vogel)
• Bad Brain Games (Watch Dogs: Legion / Driver: San Francisco producer Sean Crook)
• Anchor Point Studios (Control lead designer Paul Ehreth)
• SkyBox Labs (Support for Halo, Age of Empires & Minecraft)
• Spliced (Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty alumni)
• Fantastic Pixel Castle (remote studio)
• Liquid Swords (Avalanche Studios co-founder)
• Rebel Wolves (Witcher veterans)

Here is Netease’s official statement regarding these cuts:

“The company continues to invest in our global business and actively recruits and nurtures talent. At the same time, organizational structure changes aimed at improving performance are a necessary part of our ongoing growth.

NetEase Games has a clear understanding of our development trajectory and areas of strength. Many of our strategic decisions are firmly grounded in these core areas. Since the launch of Westward Journey Online in 2001, NetEase has accumulated over 20 years of experience in developing and operating online service games. The success of Marvel Rivals further affirms the value of this experience.

At the same time, we acknowledge that we are still in the early stages of exploring single-player game development and operations. This makes us more cautious when evaluating such products and assessing the associated risks and opportunities, particularly in today’s fast-changing and highly competitive environment.

[CEO] Mr. Ding stated on the recent earnings call that NetEase is committed to supporting really high quality studios and master creators. That is the company’s strategy, and there is no change in this plan. For any studio globally, it behooves us as a responsible commercial business to frequently evaluate the progress, viability, and potential for success of our products and teams.”