NetEase Games Acquires Suda51’s Grasshopper Manufacture

Grasshopper Manufacture Inc., the studio behind the No More Heroes series headed by Goichi Suda aka Suda51, has been acquired by NetEase Games. 

This acquisition comes as NetEase continues its growth by way of acquisitions and partnerships, with the company obtaining a minority stake in Quantic Dream, a stake in Bungie, and more, over the past few years. Grasshopper Manufacture is the latest to join NetEase’s lineup. 

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“As we all know, NetEase Games has developed many excellent games in the past, and I have long been aware of NetEase’s creative capabilities,” Suda said in a press release about the announcement. “When talking with NetEase about ‘developing more unique console games together,’ we resonated. After a lot of thoughts, we’ve unanimously decided to ‘get together’ in the long term through deeper cooperation to create more good content for gamers.” 

Suda said NetEase understands the strengths of Grasshopper Manufacture and is willing to support the studio in an “extremely reliable” way. He also said NetEase will be primarily responsible for advising Grasshopper Manufacture on the studio’s business planning and funding for game development. 

“We will be responsible for the creativity and production of games to ensure that we are able to continue to maintain the consistent ‘Grasshopper Manufacture flavor’ and game quality for which we are known,” Suda writes. “In addition, we will also receive strong support from the NetEase team composed of thousands of artists and technical experts in terms of game art and quality assurance.”

Grasshopper Manufacture has been with GungHo Online Entertainment since 2013, but moving forward, Grasshopper Manufacture’s home will be NetEase. 

For more about the studio, check out our thoughts on its latest game in Game Informer’s No More Heroes 3 review. Read about whether or not we think No More Heroes 3 is worth playing after that. 

What do you make of this acquisition? Let us know in the comments below!

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