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NetEase has pulled funding from Jar of Sparks, in the past few months they have...
- Pulled funding from ex-Bioware veteran led studio, Humanoid Origin, which resulted in their shutdown.
- Pulled funding from ex-Bioware veteran led studio, Worlds Untold, which has resulted in them "pausing operations"
- Pulled funding from ex-343 led studio, Jar of Sparks, which has resulted in them "pausing operations"
Three studios formed by "ex-veterans" receiving NetEase's bullet before even revealing what they were working on, Humanoid was only alive for 3 years, World Untold so far has been going on for just over a year and Jar of Sparks has so far been going on for 2 years but if neither of the latter can find a publishing partner they won't last long, both are already suggesting employees find work elsewhere. This after they shutdown Ouka Studios, which had released Visions of Mana in August and another studio they invested in, Something Wicked Games (ex-Bethesda veterans) laid off most of their staff earlier last year.
To think a couple of years back I was saying it would be interesting to follow NetEase because they weren't just acquiring studios like everyone else but carefully forming studios around veterans, skip a couple years later and they're putting a bullet in them all. Nobody is safe, your name doesn't mean anything now. These studios aren't even being given a chance before being shutdown now. I expect half of the "veteran-led" studios will shutdown before they even release anything.
Last edited by Ryuu96 - 22 hours ago
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