The Chinese giant is gradually scaling back investments after several years of active expansion into the West.
The news was shared by Paul Ehreth, founder of Anchor Point Studios and former lead designer of Control and Alan Wake II. After separating from NetEase, the studio will continue to operate as an independent company.
“We are now beginning negotiations with potential investors and partners,” Ehreth stated.
The studio planned to develop action games for PC and consoles. However, no announcements have been made yet. The amount of funds required for development and further operations is also unknown.
NetEase founded Anchor Point in 2023. The studio is based in Spain but also has an office in the USA. The size of the funding was not disclosed, although Ehreth thanked the Chinese company for the support that helped form a “world-class” team.
Since the end of 2024, NetEase has closed or terminated relations with nearly a dozen studios based in the US or Europe. Among them are Worlds Untold, Jar of Sparks, T-Minus Zero, Fantastic Pixel Castle, and Jackalyptic Games. In early February, Mattel also bought out the Chinese giant’s share in the mobile studio Mattel163 for $159 million.
NetEase itself remains stable. For 2025, the company earned $16.1 billion, of which $13.2 billion came from games (+10% year-over-year). The net profit of the entire company amounted to $4.8 billion (+13.8%).