Asia
Tencent, NetEase Rethink Japan Approach as Game Strategy Stalls
- China’s biggest game publishers are rethinking expansion plans
- ‘Wukong’ success also encouraged looking domestically for hits
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Tencent Holdings Ltd. and NetEase Inc. are reconsidering or scaling back many of their investments in Japanese studios, after years of spending yielded few hit games and the Chinese market staged a comeback.
NetEase has cut all but a handful of jobs at its Ouka studio in Tokyo, according to people familiar with the matter. It intends to shut the Shibuya outfit, which had opened with much fanfare in 2020 and gone on to hire veterans from big names such as Capcom Co. and Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. The few that remain will oversee the rollout of its final games, before the studio winds down.