Quantic Dream go multi-platform after investment from NetEase

Quantic Dream receives investment from NetEase to develop next-gen games

Minority stake will help Quantic become ‘a global, multi-franchise entertainment company’

Chinese internet company NetEase announced it has purchased a minority stake in Quantic Dream, the French developer behind Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, as part of an investment in “the development and creation of the next generation games.”

NetEase did not disclose the monetary terms of its investment in Quantic Dream. The investment will “support [Quantic Dream]’s vision of becoming a global, multi-franchise entertainment company, and to develop advanced technologies and games for the future,” NetEase said in a news release.

NetEase used similar language in describing its $100 million investment in Halo and Destiny developer Bungie last year.

“With a strong focus on in-house development, we are constantly looking for partners that complement us in the development and creation of the next generation games,” said Ethan Wang, vice president of NetEase, in a statement. “Quantic Dream’s excellence in interactive storytelling and the valuable expertise it has built over the past two decades is exactly what we have been looking for. We are pleased to partner with Quantic Dream and we hope to create incredible game experiences for players all around the globe.”

“The landscape of the gaming industry will go through major evolutions in the coming years, with new hardware to come, new business models to explore and new ways of playing to invent,” added Quantic Dream CEO and creative director David Cage. “We want Quantic Dream to take a key role in this exciting future and having NetEase by our side as a strategic partner will allow us to expand our creative vision and develop the company to its fullest potential. NetEase understands what Quantic is about as they share our passion for high quality games and our ambitions for the studio.”

NetEase was founded in 1997. The company operates local versions of Eve Online, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, StarCraft 2, and Overwatch. Quantic Dream was also founded in 1997. The studio’s most recent game, Detroit: Become Human, was released in 2018 for PlayStation 4. The company has had a long-running publishing partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Why NetEase and Quantic Dream are teaming up for games on multiple platforms

GamesBeat: After Detroit, what else are you working on?

Cage: It is too early to reveal anything about our future projects. What I can say is that we are working on our next engine that will be cross-
platform and even more impressive than anything we have done before. We will keep working on projects that are ambitious and original, building on the genre we pioneered and that we will continue to develop, but we also want to explore new grounds.

Venom wrote:Their games are not for every hardcore gamer but more genre options is a great thing. The simplicity of the control methods can make them accessible to non-gamers. Maybe Black Mirror Bandersnatch shows that the future of Quantic Dreams' games is not on PlayStation or even Xbox but on Netflix.