Star Wars Eclipse Studio Quantic Dream Sold To NetEase After Backlash
Chinese technology company NetEase will be purchasing Quantic Dream, the studio behind the upcoming Star Wars Eclipse. This news follows a barrage of serious accusations against the developer and its Lead Director David Cage, with many in the gaming community attempting to draw attention to Quantic Dream's toxic and hostile work environment over the past few months.
Quantic Dream produces a very specific kind of game; its past three releases were Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human, all of which can be described as movie-game hybrids, with gameplay often taking a back seat to storytelling and visual presentation. These three games were all part of an exclusivity deal with Sony, and thus released on PlayStation consoles. That deal has now ended, and there has been some speculation that Star Wars: Eclipse will be landing on multiple platforms. Having said that, there have been murmurings within the gaming community that Star Wars: Eclipse will get delayed or even canceled as a result of various development problems and abuse within Quantic Dream, as there have been several allegations of homophobia and sexism perpetrated by executives in the company and even David Cage himself.
Amidst this controversy, Chinese company NetEase has been preparing to purchase Quantic Dream, according to Exputer's Tom Henderson. NetEase previously bought a small stake of Quantic Dream back in 2019, but this report suggests that the company will increase its ownership to 100%. This news has come by way of an anonymous source, and NetEase declined to comment when Exputer reached out.
As always, unconfirmed acquisition reports should be taken with a grain of salt. However, there have been many reports alleging Star Wars Eclipse development trouble, so it would make sense for an outside organization to step in to get things in order. If Quantic Dream has been struggling since splitting with Sony, a massive company like NetEase may be what it needs to get the ball rolling smoothly again.
Assuming this acquisition news is true, it will be interesting to see how NetEase handles the bevy of accusations raised against Quantic Dream. Much of the negative attention surrounding the company is centered on David Cage, so it's conceivable that NetEase would find a way to get him away from the company, along with any other alleged abusers. It remains to be seen just what will happen with Quantic Dream and Star Wars Eclipse, but any organization looking to purchase the studio will need to deliver swift and effective fixes.
Source: Exputer, Tom Henderson/Twitter