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Dark times seem to be looming over NetEase‘s international studios—that is, the acquisitions made in the USA, Europe, and Japan. A few years ago, the company sought to expand its foothold in the video game industry by acquiring studios and investing in strategic partners. Now, it appears they are set to backtrack and either close or sell off the assets they acquired in recent years.

NetEase seems to be aiming to cut costs and focus on games that generate continuous revenue—you know exactly which type of products I mean. Interestingly, this cost-cutting effort even led the company to ask the Marvel Rivals team to design their own heroes in order to avoid paying royalties to Disney.

Specifically, Nagoshi Studio—the team founded by Nagoshi, the creator of Yakuza and a legendary producer at SEGA—might be allowed to finish their current project, but they won’t receive any extra time or marketing budget.

Studios that could be affected include:

  • NetEase Montreal
  • Quantic Dream
  • Grasshopper Manufacture
  • Nagoshi Studio
  • PinCool
  • Studio Flare
  • GPTRACK50
  • Jackalyptic Games
  • T-Minus Zero Entertainment
  • Bad Brain Games
  • Anchor Point Studios
  • SkyBox Labs
  • Spliced
  • Fantastic Pixel Castle
  • Liquid Swords
  • Rebel Wolves
  • BulletFarm

Rebel Wolves should not suffer too much, as NetEase’s stake in that studio was announced as being minority.

Thanks, Bloomberg and VGC.