Japanese game development studio Grasshopper Manufacture has joined NetEase Games, as announced in a press release issued by the latter company and confirmed by Grasshopper Representative Director and CEO Goichi Suda.
Grasshopper Manufacture is known mainly for the No More Heroes series (which recently saw the debut of the third installment) and for Let It Die (the free-to-play game that topped seven million downloads a few weeks ago).
In the press release, Suda explained why the developer agreed to the proposal.
NetEase Games shared a statement, too.
As we all know, NetEase Games has developed many excellent games in the past, and I have long been aware of NetEase’s creative capabilities. When talking with NetEase about “developing more unique console games together”, we resonated. After a lot of thoughts, we’ve unanimously decided to “get together” in the long term through deeper cooperation to create more good content for gamers.
NetEase Games understands the strengths of Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. and is willing to support us, and is an extremely reliable partner. NetEase Games will be mainly responsible for advising on our business planning activities and providing sufficient funding for game development. We will be responsible for the creativity and production of games to ensure that we are able to continue to maintain the consistent “Grasshopper Manufacture flavor” and game quality for which we are known. In addition, we will also receive strong support from the NetEase team composed of thousands of artists and technical experts in terms of game art and quality assurance. We will make the most of this support and strive to offer three even higher-quality “Grasshopper Manufacture Games” to all gamers in the next ten years.
Grasshopper Manufacture Inc., moving towards the brand-new future of game development, is now reborn and will continue to create history. Stay tuned.
As a reminder, NetEase has been investing in various game companies over the past few years, such as Bungie, Quantic Dream, and Behaviour Interactive. They’ve also hired former Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi earlier this year.
