Grasshopper Manufacture splits from NetEase as Suda51 announces independence from October 1

Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda said on September 30 that the studio left NetEase Games by mutual agreement and became independent again from October 1. NetEase acquired the studio from Gung Ho in October 2021 with a goal of three high-profile original titles over ten years; the period produced a remaster of Shadows of the Damned and Romeo is a Dead Man, released on February 10, 2026, whose Steam sales were estimated at about 50,000. Apart from the self-running GPTRACK50 and Studio Flare, whose status is undisclosed, NetEase has now divested all the Japanese studios it founded or acquired, while its Japanese publishing and operations teams remain unaffected.