Suda 51’s Grasshopper Manufacture, which celebrated its 23rd Anniversary in March, has been acquired by NetEase.

According to the studio, the acquisition is a unique opportunity to “rethink the game development and organizational structure” while moving forward and understanding its “own advantages and unique position” as it is presented with new possibilities in game creation.

“As we all know, NetEase Games has developed many excellent games in the past, and I have long been aware of NetEase's creative capabilities,” said Goichi Suda, known to all as Suda51. “When talking with NetEase about developing more unique console games together, we resonated. After a lot of thought, we’ve unanimously decided to get together in the long term through deeper cooperation to create more good content for gamers.”

Suda went on to say that NetEase understands Grasshopper’s strengths and is willing to support the studio as a “reliable partner.”

According to the announcement, NetEase will mainly be responsible for business planning and providing sufficient funding for game development. Grasshopper will maintain its responsibility of game production and continued focus on quality. In addition, the NetEase Games team will provide support to Grasshopper thanks to its team of thousands of artists and technical experts.

Such support will help the studio produce and release three games within a span of ten years.

Grasshopper Manufature’s latest release was No More Heroes 3 and it landed back in August for Nintendo Switch. The action-adventure hack-and-slash is the fourth installment in the No More Heroes series and is the third mainline entry.