The city of Montreal is clearly an intriguing location for Chinese online games company NetEase. The company has announced the launch of a new studio in the location, with a focus on research and development of games.
NetEase director and CEO William Ding elaborates:
“Global expansion is of great importance to the strategic growth of NetEase’s online games business. We have made considerable progress in recent years, and our new Montreal games studio is another significant milestone for our global market ambitions.”
This global expansion is not the first inroads NetEase has made into the city of Montreal. Earlier this month, the company had purchased a minority stake in developer Behaviour Interactive, citing the studio’s position as “a leader of the asymmetrical battle arena genre” with its horror-themed multiplayer title Dead by Daylight and with a focus on R&D as well. NetEase also cited the city of Montreal as a desirable location owing to its “favorable conditions” for foreign companies like NetEase.
What this all means for our genre right now is, obviously, not known. Still, it is interesting to see so much money and effort from NetEase funneled into games R&D.
