And one more step towards market consolidation. Lately, we’re more used to seeing studios being taken over by well-known groups, whether it’s Microsoft, Sony, or Tencent, but this time it’s another Chinese giant that’s making the headlines. , to know NetEase Games. The publisher announces today that it has acquired all of Quantic Dreamwho is well known for his work on heavy rain, Detroit Become Humanor the next star wars eclipse.
NetEase strengthens its position in the West
The amount of the purchase has not been communicated, but we should not be too surprised to see Quantic Dream and NetEase continue their collaboration. The Chinese publisher had already acquired shares in the French company in 2019, but remained a minority at the time. That changes today, and Quantic Dream becomes NetEase’s first European studio.
It is specified that the studio will continue to work independently, developing games for several platforms and continuing its publishing work, as on Under the Waves.
VentureBeat was able to speak with David Cage about the reasons that led the executives to sell the studio:
” We’ve had acquisition discussions on several occasions over the past 25 years, but since none guaranteed our editorial independence, we decided to pass on those opportunities and continue as an independent studio. Our industry is undergoing profound change through a wave of acquisitions of studios and publishers. For studios, this represents a paradigm shift as our central position in the industry and our contribution to the value chain is now more properly valued. Therefore, in the recent past, we received several offers that met our expectations. »
The key word therefore seems to be independence, it remains to be seen whether this will really be the case in the years to come.