Alongside Tencent, NetEase is the other big Chinese tech company expanding in the international games industry at a pretty strong pace.

For example, NetEase has invested in Bungie, Behaviour Interactive and Quantic Dream, but also acquired Suda51’s studio (Grasshopper Manufacture) and managed to lure Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creator of the Yakuza series, away from SEGA (replacing Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio with a new team under NetEase). In addition, new studios have been set up in Montreal (which has become one of the most critical locations in North America for the games industry), but let’s not forget Sakura Studios in Guangzhou and Tokyo.

Sakura announced three projects. They said about the first project: “We are developing a single-player action RPG that will allow your character to grow through gameplay and create new game experiences as the scenario progresses. Based on a warm world, it will be a work with a bright atmosphere where active characters play an active part. In addition, we are creating a stage with a three-dimensional effect aiming for exhilarating action while playing. We are actively developing by utilizing the level streaming of Unreal Engine to move seamlessly in a vast field. In the development of this work, we are also strengthening the environment construction with an eye on future content expansion, such as an event control system and a text management system with an eye on the highly expandable future.”

The second will be a new-style battle game, possibly a fighting title. Then the third will be a more extensive scale cooperative action game: “Lastly, I would like to introduce a super-large, completely new action game in the prototype development stage. We are not only creating original IP from scratch but also taking on the challenge of developing a new game system that realizes unprecedented cooperative play. Furthermore, we are focusing on developing AI-related tools for enemy characters, aiming to entertain players who challenge the capture by individual users or groups, not just strong AI. The development is a mixed team of “Japanese veteran staff” and “enthusiastic young Chinese staff”.”

Sakura Studio was founded in July 2020. Even though more than a year and a half has passed since then, NetEase is still actively looking for people to join, so don’t expect any of the three games shortly. They still need plenty of time.

Source: WCCFTech