Grasshopper Manufacture, the studio headed by No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda (Suda51), has announced that it has become a subsidiary of China’s gigantic publisher NetEase Games under a share transfer agreement active on May 31, 2021.
“Grasshopper Manufacture celebrated its 23rd anniversary in March this year,” said Suda in a comment alongside the announcement. “Our studio is made up of a diverse staff with a variety of backgrounds and personalities, all of whom love video games. As I thought about the strengths and peculiarities of our company, I could see a new future for our way of creative production.
I could see a new future for our way of creative production.“NetEase Games has released many fantastic games, and I have heard for a long time about their strong reputation. When NetEase Games presented the opportunity to work on unique consumer games together, I came to the conclusion that by working together, we can deliver even more powerful and creative titles to our audience.
“In addition, NetEase Games is a reliable partner that understands and supports our strengths. They will give us support on the management side and fund our game development, but the planning and production of our games will be left entirely up to us. This means we can guarantee a consistent ‘Grasshopper Manufacture style’ and quality of our games. In addition, we will receive valuable support from thousands of NetEase Games artists and technical staff in areas such as graphics support and QA. Our goal is to make the most of these resources and deliver three more quintessential Grasshopper Manufacture games in the next 10 years.
“Please look forward to the history this new Grasshopper Manufacture will create in the future.”