Quantic Drem, the studio behind the smash hit action adventure Detroit: Become Human and the legendary title Heavy Rain, has been acquired by NetEase Games. After 25 years of operating as an independent games developer, Quantic Dream has been brought under the umbrella of the mammoth Chinese tech and online games service provider. While the details of the deal haven’t been disclosed, it’s expected that this will mark a new chapter for both companies.
By acquiring the French studio, NetEase has taken a key step in broadening its portfolio even further. Quantic Dream will be NetEase’s first Europe-based studio, with the Chinese giant also obtaining Quantic Dream’s additional Montreal-based studio as part of the deal. NetEase first invested as a minority shareholder in Quantic Dream back in 2019 and has been developing its relationship with the studio in the years that have followed. The support and investment NetEase provided in the past couple of years has allowed Quantic Dream to take a step away from a significant period of time spent crafting purely PlayStation-exclusive games. This has meant that they’ve been able to release their games on PC once more.
The acquisition means that further support and development for growth will be put in place for Quantic Dream. However, its current successful leadership structure will remain stable. The studio’s co-CEOs, David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière, will continue to oversee operations at Quantic Dream. Perhaps most importantly, the studio will continue to function independently of NetEase, although their ownership will now mean that Quantic Dream’s games have a lot more freedom. The deal means that they’ll be able to shift their focus to creating and publishing video games on all platforms, rather than just one or two.
NetEase’s CEO William Ding has spoken out on his company’s vision for growth going forward, in particular, what it hopes to achieve with Quantic Dream. The partnership over the last couple of years has obviously built a solid foundation between the two companies, with Ding explaining that through “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.”
It certainly sounds as if the acquisition will bring benefits to both parties. As one of the gaming industry’s driving forces behind cinematic, narrative-driven gameplay, Quantic Dream has a lot of pedigree to bring to the table already. We know that Quantic Dream is currently working on Star Wars Eclipse, a new action-adventure game that’s in development in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. With the weight of NetEase now fully behind them, who knows what will come next from this innovative studio? We’ll just have to wait and see.
