Known for having developed games such as “Heavy Rain”, “Beyond: Two Souls” or “Detroit: Become Human”, the independent French studio Quantic Dream, also developer of the future adventure game “Star Wars Eclipse”, was acquired by NetEase Games, one of the Chinese video game giants, the group announced in a press release on Wednesday. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
Tencent’s competitor is thus setting foot in Europe, while the studio in which it had already invested in 2019 “will continue to operate independently”, he said. “In order to continue our development (…), but also to finance other studios and become an international publisher, greater investments are necessary”, explained Quantic Dream on its site.
A Star Wars game in the works
Based in Paris and Montreal, the Quantic Dream studio was founded in 1997 by its current director David Cage. Currently, Quantic Dream is working with LucasFilm Games on a new video game adaptation of the Star Wars universe, entitled “Star Wars Eclipse” and classified among the “AAA” titles, which includes big budget games. The action of NetEase has been jostled this summer after the postponement for a month of the release in China of its flagship title “Diablo Immortal”, co-developed with the American Activision Blizzard.
At the beginning of June, China granted new licenses to 60 video games, the second wave of authorizations to be granted this year in the world’s largest market. An announcement perceived as a positive signal for the Chinese video game sector, targeted in recent years by the authorities, which had weighed on the profitability of many video game companies, such as the giant Tencent, world number one in the sector.