It's official, Quantic Dream acquired by a Chinese giant, the rumors were right

The rumor emerged last March and no comment was made at the time. After months of rumors, the 100% takeover of Quantic Dream by the Chinese giant NetEase is now official. The news was relayed by a Chinese press release, which continues its harvest internationally, after acquiring the Japanese studio Grasshopper Manufacture, Nagoshi Studio, Jackalope Games and Jar of Sparks. According to the rumors relayed a few months ago after Tom Henderson, it was Quantic Dream that took the steps to find a potential buyer and secure itself financially, while maintaining creative freedom. NetEase had already invested $100 million in 2019 in the capital of the French company, which took the opportunity to transform and become a full-fledged publisher. This is all the more logical since NetEase has allowed Quantic Dream to enter the Chinese market, the new holy grail for companies that want to reach an even larger audience. Moreover, since Beyond Two Souls was released on PC, sales have continued to grow, mainly affecting an Asian market discovering the narrative games written by David Cage.

 

We've had takeover talks on several occasions over the past 25 years, but since none guaranteed our editorial independence, we decided to pass up on those opportunities and continue as an independent studio. Our industry is undergoing profound change through a wave of acquisitions of studios and publishers. For studios, this represents a paradigm shift as our central position in the industry and our contribution to the value chain is now more properly valued. Therefore, in the recent past, we received several offers that met our expectations.

 

These remarks made by co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumière thus allow Quantic Dream to continue its transformation as a development studio, but also a full-fledged publisher. During gamescom 2022, Quantic Dream also announced that it had taken the game Under the Waves under its aegis, allowing developers to benefit from their infrastructures for the production of the game.

We met NetEase about 4 years ago and offered them to join us as a minority shareholder in January 2019. During this time we learned a lot about each other. We started working together on small and large projects, we collaborated with pleasure and discussed a lot about our sector and our vision for the future. This is how we discovered that we shared the same desire: to create audacious and highly qualitative works that leave an impression.

When we came to their premises at the beginning of July, David Cage announced an upcoming move to larger premises more suited to their needs. He also clarified that no game based on the Dark Sorcerer was in development, contrary to some rumors circulating on Twitter.