NetEase Acquires Detroit: Become Human Developer Quantic Dream
Quantic Dream, the creator of Detroit: Become Human and more, has been acquired by Chinese tech giant NetEase, the pair announced this week. The David Cage-led studio located in Paris, France, is now wholly owned by NetEase Games and represents the latter's first studio in Europe. This acquisition also notably comes at a time when Quantic Dream is known to be working with Lucasfilm Games on a new Star Wars project.
NetEase Games previously invested in Quantic Dream years ago, though the French developer has remained independent otherwise since it was founded around 25 years ago by David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière. Prior to this announcement, it was rumored that NetEase would fully acquire Quantic Dream, a rumor which appears to have been right on the money.
"We are thrilled to embark on an exciting new stage of growth with Quantic Dream, bound by our shared vision, mutual trust and respect," said William Ding, CEO and director of NetEase, Inc. in a press release. "NetEase will continue to fulfil our promise to support Quantic Dream to realise its full potential. By 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."
Aside from Detroit: Become Human, Quantic Dream is also known for its other games Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain. The Star Wars game codenamed "Star Wars Eclipse" that the studio is working on was announced last year and is described as a "new action-adventure, multiple-character branching narrative AAA game set in the High Republic era." The Star Wars game is in early development with no set release window at this time.
Development on that game has supposedly been going well, and while any news of a new Star Wars project would typically be good news for fans, some were hesitant to get excited about this new game once it was discovered that Quantic Dream was developing it. The studio faced allegations in recent years of a toxic workplace said to consist of things like crunch culture and offensive, inappropriate jokes and comments. Quantic Dream responded by suing French publications that reported on the supposed workplace issues.