China’s NetEase has decided to become the controlling force behind France’s Quantic Dream.
Under its NetEase Games imprint, the Hong Kong-based magacorp is seemingly looking for a AAA dream from the studio behind popular narrative-driven experiences Detroit: Become Human, Heavy Rain and that third PlayStation exclusive we seemingly never talk about.
NetEase’s announcement of quiring a 100% stake in the Paris-based studio come as an extension of a pre-existing deal that had NetEase acquire a minority stake in Quantic Dream back in 2019, shortly after the latter’s three-game deal with Sony ended, granting the studio free agency.
While NetEase hasn’t made a statement about the acquisition so far, credible sources are commenting that it has been in discussion for several months, making it seemingly related to the news out of The 2021 Game Awards that Quantic Dream is at the helm of a new Star Wars title.
Recently, Quantic Dream has been in the spotlight for some less than favourable allegations of extreme crunch hours and toxic working relationships. It will also be interesting to see what having a sole ownership entity will do in relation to those allegations.
