Quantic Dream, the developer behind Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human (amongst others), has responded to the recent round of layoffs at NetEase as the publisher pulls back from its Western video game endeavours. A wholly-owned subsidiary of NetEase, and having spent years working on Star Wars Eclipse, there was some understandable concern the French dev might be next on the chopping block; not the case, according to the companies' CEO.
Quantic Dream's CEO, Guillaume de Fondaumière, shared a post on LinkedIn, announcing that all is seemingly well at the firm (thanks, IGN). In fact, Detroit sold over two million copies in 2024 (released in 2018), passing an impressive 11 million to date. Fondaumière wrote, in part:
"[Founder and president] David Cage and I would like to express our gratitude to the fans and friends who have reached out to us in recent days regarding QUANTIC DREAM. We want to reassure everyone that our studios in Paris and Montreal remain unaffected. We are continuing to develop our projects at full pace, with several open positions available in both locations."
In a statement provided to IGN, a NetEase representative said: "As far as overseas business efforts are concerned, NetEase has not wavered in its global expansion plans. Our 'two-pronged' approach (combining self-research and investments to explore global markets) is still actively progressing and yielding positive results... For titles developed by the self-owned studios, we successfully launched games like Once Human and Marvel Rivals in 2024. These projects demonstrate NetEase’s ability, along with our talented development teams, to produce high-quality games loved by players worldwide."
Are you glad to hear that Quantic Dream, at least, appears to be safe for the foreseeable future? Are you looking forward to Star Wars Eclipse? Search for Jason in the comments section below.
[source linkedin.com, via ign.com]
Comments 13
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TBF I think Detroit is one of the stupidest games I've ever played. So I don't care about the studio at all. It screams white persons take on "social justice".
I did like the menu screen lady. That was a brilliant touch.
loved Fahrenheit indigo prophecy, heavy rain, beyond two souls and Detroit become human all great games
After rewatching the teaser trailer for Eclipse, I really hope it will come up as it looks like a dark/mature Star Wars story with not a single Mickey mouse to be seen.
@breakneck Detroit is better than Two souls, and dare I say it even Heavy rain (not when it comes to memes though)
@Oram77 I've gotta get around to Detroit it's, just been sitting there on my PS5... and PS4... for far too long. Thanks for the reminder.
This is a studio that I wished Sony would have grabbed.. they may only make one game a generation but it was worth the wait. They seemed to have had a very positive relationship with Sony.
@breakneck So because you didn;t "care" for a game you think it would be OK for the studio to close, hundreds of people out of jobs and a waste of time possibly developing the best open world star wars game? You my friend need your head shaking.
I have enjoyed QD’s games and hope that their relationship with Netease is as good as they think it is so I can play new games from them in the future.
@SpellBorg A studio that mistreats employees and only got out of the lawsuit because the publication had journalistic ethics and refused to name their sources. They get no sympathy from me.
@T-Bone09 I think it was recently mentioned in one of Shus many podcast appearances that it had to do with Sony not like QDs management while liking the games themselves.
I hope people would not like my company to close based on my superiors ethics. Jobs are very scarce in my country. Not that I'm saying it's right...
"Our 'two-pronged' approach (combining self-research and investments to explore global markets) is still actively progressing and yielding positive results."
You can really feel their passion and commitment to weaving wonders and nurturing creativity. So inspiring. So beautiful.
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