Bloomberg has updates on the fates of several games and studios in development by NetEase Games, which also raises questions about games and studios they hadn’t named.
In their latest report, they revealed that NetEase has privately been cutting down their investments over the past year. That’s meant games coming to end-of-support status or ending development. This move has also affected their Chinese studios, but so far, we only know of closures and layoffs in NetEase studios outside China.
It is a matter of public record that NetEase has closed Ouka Studios, coming out of Japan, Worlds Untold from Canada, and Jar of Sparks in the US. They also belatedly confirmed they laid off the Seattle studio working on Marvel Rivals. NetEase officially responded to Bloomberg’s report, stating that these layoffs affected less than 60 employees, and that this is not a ‘wide scale layoff.’
Ouka’s first project was Square Enix’s Visions of Mana, the first new Mana game in the main series in 18 years. Bloomberg’s sources claim that NetEase Ceo William Ding overruled the executives who approved of this project. Allegedly, Ding doesn’t feel the need to keep a team that is working with external publishers.
Bloomberg also has updates to two other studios and their projects. Jackalope Games is NetEase’s first US studio, founded in 2022 and led by former Cryptic Studios CEO Jack Emmert. In 2023, they were rebranded to Jackalyptic Games, and they revealed they were making a Warhammer 40,000 game in partnership with Games Workshop.
Jackalyptic brought their project to a recent trade show, where it received positive reception. Allegedly, Jackalyptic is shopping this Warhammer 40,000 game around for a potential publisher or investor.
Subsequently, there is the story of Toshihiro Nagoshi, producer of the Yakuza / Like A Dragon / Ryu Ga Gotoku series. In 2021, Nagoshi left his high level management position in Sega to join NetEase. Alongside other Sega veterans, they formed Nagoshi Studio in 2022, to develop a new original IP under NetEase.
Bloomberg claims that Nagoshi Studio has been given time wrap up their projects. However, they will no longer get additional funding and time. They also won’t get marketing or promotion for this IP.
We can confirm at least one NetEase project outside China that isn’t rumored to be in a dire situation. In 2023, industry veteran Greg Street AKA Ghostcrawler launched a new studio with NetEase called Fantastic Pixel Castle. In spite of the frivolous name the studio is making a AAA scale MMO codenamed Ghost.
When asked about their project, Ghostcrawler shared this on Twitter:
“No. They evaluated a lot of their portfolio and decided we are one of the games to double down on. But thanks for the concern!”
Video Games Chronicle shared a list of studios owned by NetEase games outside China. We know some of them are in a good position. For example, The Blood of Dawnwalker developer Rebel Wolves have a publishing deal with Bandai Namco Europe.
However, the situation isn’t as clear for Grasshopper Manufacture, which already went through corporate shifts as it was previously owned by GungHo Online. Grasshopper’s most recent release was last year’s Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, and they outlined a plan to make three major games over this decade.
Grasshopper also opened a new studio working on a new game in 2022. As of this writing, Grasshopper Manufacture and NetEase have not made any statement about the future of the studio and their projects.
And that’s where we are with most of these studios NetEase own or lent financial backing to, until we get official word. We are hopeful, whether they stay with NetEase or not, that these studios will keep on going.
