Tag Archives: NetEase

In 2022, the relationship between Activision Blizzard and its Chinese publishing partner, NetEase, began to rapidly deteriorate, leading to NetEase being dropped as the publisher for Blizzard titles in China and thus making those games inaccessible in the country. Now after acquiring Activision last year, Microsoft has mended fences. Microsoft …

Back in August last year, we reported that David Vonderhaar – the long-time lead at Treyarch – announced his departure from the studio after more than 18 years. At the time, Vonderhaar opted not to share his future plans, though we now know that the industry veteran has opened up …

NetEase has been a big name in the mobile gaming space for a while now, but in recent years the company has pushed into the console gaming space. Two of its biggest moves saw NetEase acquire Suda51’s Studio Grasshopper Manufacture alongside partnering with Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi for the opening …

NARAKA: Bladepoint has been a top-selling game on Steam for a while now and the battle royale title has also made waves on console thanks to an Xbox release, as well as the game's inclusion on Xbox Game Pass. Now, NARAKA: Bladepoint is going through a major change, with plans …

SkyBox Labs isn't necessarily known for the specific games developed by the studio. However, it has helped develop world-renowned franchises such as Halo, Age of Empires and Minecraft. NetEase has now acquired SkyBox Labs, hoping to bring some of that expertise into its ranks. SkyBox Labs is a Canadian game …

Blizzard has had a long-term partnership with NetEase to allow its games to operate in China. Unfortunately, a dispute between the two companies has come to light, and as a result, their licensing deal will be coming to an end and the majority of Blizzard games will be pulled from …

Earlier this year, we began hearing whispers about a Destiny mobile game, which Bungie is apparently working on in collaboration with NetEase, a company you'll all know and love following the launch of Diablo Immortal. Now, new patent filings suggest Bungie is indeed working on bringing Destiny to mobile in …

Back in March, we learned that NetEase was looking to fully acquire Quantic Dream, following several years of being a minority stake holder. Now, that deal has been confirmed, with the Chinese games publisher now acquiring the former Sony partner.  Quantic Dream made a name for itself with a series …

A couple of years ago following Diablo Immortal's BlizzCon reveal, we learned that Blizzard was also working on a number of other mobile games, several of which were set in the Warcraft universe. This year, one of these games was officially announced, but Blizzard seems to be scrapping two other …

Mobile hardware is more powerful than ever, allowing developers to create and release competent and comparable mobile ports of some of the industry’s biggest titles. It seems Bungie is planning to enter the mobile space, as the studio is reportedly working on a Destiny mobile game in collaboration with NetEase. …

At this point, it is well established that Diablo Immortal has one of the greediest gacha systems we've seen in a mobile game to date. Still, the controversy didn't scare off those who can afford to drop piles of cash on mobile games. In the two weeks since launch, Diablo …

Four years on from its infamous reveal, Diablo Immortal is officially out on both mobile and PC. Initially, there was a flurry of positivity around the game's launch, but once players began getting more familiar with the store and hitting end-game, major issues became apparent. Want a fully maxed out character? That'll be $100,000 please.

The public perception of French studio Quantic Dream has ebbed and flowed over the years, with current sentiment being far from the heights that the studio enjoyed following the release of 2010’s Heavy Rain. Still, the company’s upcoming Star Wars game has seemingly proven to be an enticing factor for …

China’s approach to governing a country can be seen by many ‘Western’ nations as being much more aggressive in its involvement in the personal lives of its citizens. This was seen with the country’s one child policy, and now, the government is limiting the number of hours that children can …

Recently we reported that NetEase was in final talks with SEGA’s Toshihiro Nagoshi to poach the Yakuza creator, bringing him under the Chinese company's wing and giving him the freedom to create a new studio and IPs. It looks like NetEase isn’t the only Chinese-based company with an eye on …

Toshihiro Nagoshi is one of SEGA’s most prolific names. Having joined the company all the way back in 1989, he has been in charge of some of the publisher’s biggest games, including creating the Yakuza franchise. Despite his lengthy history with SEGA, it seems he may finally be leaving the …

Minecraft is the best selling video game on the planet. With over 200 million copies sold, the open sandbox game is far ahead of all other competitors in this regard. These figures only account for paid copies sold however. In mainland China, where the game is free-to-play, Minecraft has surpassed …

Ever since leaving Microsoft and Halo behind, Bungie has been working on the Destiny franchise. However, with the studio’s new and complete independence, Bungie is looking to do a bit more, with plans to push more franchises out into the market by 2025. We had our first hint of this …

Since resuming its video game approvals in December, China has noticeably omitted its two biggest publishers. Finally seeing approval from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, both Tencent and NetEase have received licenses for the first time in over 9 months. Although Tencent is known for …

Last year, Ben Brode made the decision to leave Blizzard behind, taking a few friends from the Hearthstone team along with him. Together, they formed a new studio called ‘Second Dinner’, things have been quiet on that front for a while but this week, we started hearing some new things. …

Back in June, we learned that Bungie would begin working on brand new IP outside of Destiny thanks to support from Chinese publisher, NetEase. The publisher invested $100 million in Bungie, giving the studio resources to manage multiple projects at once. Now, we have our first hint at what Bungie's …

Bungie is the mastermind behind some of the biggest games of all-time, including the likes of Halo and Destiny (and Marathon…). Now, they could be going in a different direction with the help of a Chinese publisher called NetEase. Bungie reported on the 1st of June that they had received …

Before Bluehole managed to break onto smartphones with PUBG Mobile, a plethora of inspired games flooded the market in an attempt to ride the wave of popularity surrounding the battle royale genre. NetEase’s Rules of Survival and Knives Out in particular have since been highlighted by the publisher as threats …