It's no secret NetEase Games is among the biggest investors in the gaming industry, trailing only the likes of Tencent and perhaps Microsoft if you count their many acquisitions.
Over the last few years, it has acquired Quantic Dream and SkyBox Labs while opening several Western-based studios like NetEase Games Montreal, Jackalope Games (later renamed Jackalyptic Games), Jar of Sparks, Rebel Wolves (this one isn't fully owned, but NetEase provided the investment for their first project), Anchor Point Studios, Bad Brain Game Studios, and T-Minus Zero Entertainment to name a few.
However, NetEase has also invested in Japan by acquiring Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture and establishing Nagoshi Studio when the Yakuza creator left SEGA. VideoGamesChronicle recently had the opportunity to visit both studios in Tokyo to check how they're doing under the new ownership.
Nagoshi-san said that NetEase is very ambitious:
The general environment means it’s hard to try new things in Japan, but NetEase is very ambitious and wants to expand its business by succeeding worldwide and including the console game category, which aligns with our ambition. So when we started our conversations, we aligned our goals and the destination we were aiming towards. We were pretty much aligned in the first place, and later on, when we actually had meetings with each other, we just made sure we were heading toward this goal we had set before.
For his part, Suda-san highlighted that NetEase is focused on quality and creativity instead of putting a rush on game development.
We do have a schedule and a budget and everything, but it’s not like anyone’s saying, ‘OK, the game has to be out on this day’. There’s nobody at NetEase who thinks that if you get a game out as soon as possible, it’s going to be good – they understand that’s not how it works. They give top priority to creativity and quality, so it’s great that we’re able to have the freedom of time and schedule to really put the work into the games that we need to put into them, and they’re really understanding about that.
They let us work on games the way we want to work on them and make the games we want to make. One thing I’ve felt both in terms of working remotely and finally being able to meet them face-to-face, is that I feel they’re a company that’s really interested and eager to learn new things, from not just us but other studios as well. They’re really interested in how we do things, they ask me stuff like ‘hey, could you give us some ideas and some pointers on how you create games, how to make better games’. So it’s not only the freedom they allow us to work with, but also the passion and energy you can tell they put into their work, and help us put into our work as well. It’s something that’s been really impressive.
We're probably going to have to wait at least another couple of years to see what Goichi Suda and Toshihiro Nagoshi's development teams can make under NetEase. Meanwhile, we'll be here to report on any updates they'll be willing to share.
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