Quantic Dream, the developer behind Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, has been officially snapped up by Chinese giant NetEase Games.
The acquisition will be NetEase’s first European studio, although the David Cage-fronted outfit will still continue to operate independently, where it will focus on developing and publishing games across all formats, as well as publishing third-party titles and leveraging NetEase’s production capabilities.
William Ding, CEO and Director of NetEase, commented:
We are thrilled to embark on an exciting new stage of growth with Quantic Dream, bound by our shared vision, mutual trust and respect. NetEase will continue to fulfil our promise to support Quantic Dream to realise its full potential.
By combining the wild creativity and exceptional narrative focus of Quantic Dream with NetEase’s powerful facilities, resources and execution capabilities, we believe there are infinite possibilities that could re-define the interactive entertainment experience we provide for players worldwide.
Meanwhile, Quantic Dream boss David Cage added:
Today marks an important milestone for our studio after a quarter century of complete independence. NetEase Games values our creative freedom and the drive and passion of our uniquely diverse team. We will now be able to accelerate the vision we share as a group, of creating landmark titles that touch people on an emotional level. We have highly differentiated games in the making and I truly believe that the best is yet to come from Quantic Dream.
I am particularly proud that our employees, who were offered a significant share of our capital over the past years, will fully benefit from this acquisition. It is a testimony to our continued commitment to reward all those who have made Quantic Dream the successful studio it is today.
Quantic Dream is working on a number of projects, including Star Wars Eclipse, Under the Waves and a rumored third title that is supposedly based on The Dark Sorcerer tech demo.