LogInThe studio will operate independently and will continue to work closely with its existing partners.
Chinese gaming giant NetEase revealed that it has acquired Canadian studio SkyBox Labs. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SkyBox Labs was founded in 2011 and is known primarily as a co-developer of many high-profile games published by such companies as Xbox Game Studios, Wizards of the Coast, and Electronic Arts.
At the moment, the studio is working on Halo Infinite, Minecraft games, and Fallout 76, and previously it contributed to several titles in the Halo franchise as well as multiple Age of Empires games and a game creation system video game for PC and Xbox One Project Spark. It also released two original titles, 2016’s strategy TASTEE: Lethal Tactics and 2019’s puzzle adventure platformer Stela.
According to NetEase's announcement, SkyBox Labs will continue to operate independently and its three co-founders – Shyang Kong, Derek MacNeil, and Steven Silvester – will remain in charge of the studio. It will also continue to co-develop games with its current partners and will offer its development services to new partners in the future.
"We are thrilled to welcome SkyBox Labs to the NetEase Games family and are committed to creating an environment that allows them to thrive and operate independently as a game studio," president of global investment and partnerships at NetEase Games Simon Zhu commented. "We were impressed with their extensive experience in game development and are great admirers of their past work on some of the world's leading franchises."
Over the last year, NetEase Games has invested in a number of game studios around the world including Polish VR studio Something Random and a game development studio founded by a team of CD Projekt RED veterans Rebel Wolves.
It also founded several new game studios such as GPTRACK50 led by Resident Evil and Devil May Cry producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Nagoshi Studio, a studio headed by Yakuza creator and a former chief creative officer at Sega Toshihiro Nagoshi, and US-based studio Jackalope Games.
In addition, in 2022, the Chinese gaming company acquired Detroit: Become Human and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream. Prior to this, it also purchased No More Heroes and Killer is Dead developer Grasshopper Manufacture.
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