NetEase has acquired developer SkyBox Labs for an undisclosed payment. Per the press launch, the 12-year-old studio will proceed to function independently whereas additionally “working intently with current and new companions to pursue inventive alternatives and co-develop titles within the PC and console house.”
SkyBox is greatest identified for serving to co-develop video games with studios similar to 343 Industries (Halo Infinite, plus Halo 5 and its Forge Mode) and Bethesda (Fallout 76).
As a result of Canada is a well-liked hub for recreation builders (notably Montreal), SkyBox’s presence permits NetEase to amass extra expertise and improve its presence within the western recreation house. Contemplating the variety of studios NetEase acquired or fashioned throughout 2022 (like Quantic Dream and Jar of Sparks), a assist studio or two eases the sport improvement course of.
NetEase’s partnerships president Simon Zhu added that it might will present its new subsidiary with “assets and execution capabilities in order that SkyBox Labs can “obtain quicker scale whereas sustaining the standard of labor the studio is thought for.”
Exterior of video games it is co-developed, SkyBox has additionally made its personal titles, similar to 2019’s Stela. It is unclear if the studio will get different alternatives sooner or later to create its personal unique works.
SkyBox co-founder Shyang Kong stated that NetEase acquisition will permit the builders to reap the benefits of its father or mother firm’s assets and develop within the Canadian video games house. “We stay dedicated to rising our presence in Canada, supporting our present and future companions, and co-developing extra triple-A video games for a number of the largest studios around the globe.”
NetEase’s full acquisition of SkyBox comes a handful of months after it invested in Insurgent Wolves, the studio headed up by The Witcher 3 director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz.
