Quantic Dream acquired by NetEase after rejecting recent acquisition offers

gamesradar.com:

Quantic Dream has been acquired by NetEase.

As announced earlier today on August 31, the Paris-based developer has officially been acquired by the Chinese gaming giant, making it the company's first studio based in Europe. Quantic Dream currently has over 250 employees and is headed up by David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière.

In an interview with Venture Beat (opens in new tab), Cage said that the developer had received various acquisition offers over the 25 years since it was founded, but passed on all since they couldn't guarantee the studio's "editorial independence." Cage also revealed the studio had received "several offers meeting our expectations" in the "recent past."

Quantic Dream has been criticized over the past few years for an alleged toxic workplace culture, which the studio has actually sued on the grounds of libel, winning one court case but losing another (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz (opens in new tab)). In new comments today to GamesIndustry.biz (opens in new tab), de Fondaumière revealed that these allegations hadn't had an impact on the acquisition of Quantic Dream. 

Quantic Dream currently has two projects in development: Star Wars Eclipse and Under the Waves. The former is a brand new tale set in the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe, while the latter is a "poetic underwater adventure," revealed just this past week at the Future Games Show. A recent report claimed Eclipse would be delayed, which Quantic Dream hit back at on the grounds that it had never announced a release window in the first place. 

For the 25th anniversary of the studio, Cage spoke to Edge Magazine about David Bowie, controversies, and the elevation of story.