NetEase Games, one of the Chinese video game giants, has acquired for an undisclosed amount the entirety of the independent French studio Quantic Dream, developer of the future adventure game Star Wars Eclipse, the group announced in a press release on Wednesday.
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, larger investments are necessary”, explained Quantic Dream on its site.
The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
The Quantic Dream studio, based in Paris and Montreal, was founded in 1997 by its current manager David Cage, and has notably developed the titles “Heavy Rain”, “Beyond: Two Souls” or “Detroit: Become Human”, which proposes to take in hand the destiny of three robots in a city populated by androids.
Quantic Dream is currently working with LucasFilm Games on a new video game adaptation of the Star Wars universe, classified as an “AAA” title, which includes big budget games.
The action of the Chinese video game giant NetEase was shaken up 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.
In early June, China had granted new licenses to 60 video games, the second wave of authorizations to be granted this year on the world’s largest market.
The announcement was seen 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 leader in the sector. .
In the global video game market, the time is currently for consolidation, with in particular giant acquisitions such as the acquisition at the beginning of the year of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft for 68.7 billion dollars, or that of Bungie by Sony. for $3.6 billion.