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Another video game acquisition has taken place under Microsoft’s nose. In this case, it’s Skybox Labs, a studio that supported the development of Halo Infinite, Fallout 76, and Minecraft. During her career as a Microsoft backer, she has kept a low profile, so much so that she owns a little-known video game called TASTEE: Lethal Tactics.
Although it is a studio that works in the shadow of the greats, that does not mean that it is bad at what it does. This is why the company NetEase, the Chinese giant which has already bought studios like Quantic Dream or the creators of No More Heroes, Grasshopper Manufacture. The move is intended to allow Skybox Labs to operate as an “independent” developer from the Chinese company and create its own games. Also, they will not stop engaging with third parties for development support.
Corporate takeovers, a game of chess for market dominance
Today, the desperate need for high quality developer teams is moving the industry in a big way. The best example is Microsoft and its current new purchase of Activision Blizzard; on top of that, they also acquired Bethesda. On the other hand, Sony bought part of From Software and all of Bungie. That being said, the panorama establishes that large companies like Take-Two or NetEase are comfortable buying studios without having great repercussions.
According to the founder of Skybox Labs, this move will be beneficial for them independently, as it will help them grow and find new opportunities that they would not have had first-hand before.
We have built a team of talented, passionate and creative people, and by joining NetEase Games, we will also be able to accelerate our plans to seize new creative opportunities and benefit from access to world-class operational resources as well as the breadth and depth of NetEase’s services so that we can grow faster in Canada, said Kong, the founder of SkyBox.