Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, May 5 (TMTPOST) — Chinese Internet company NetEase’s game unit NetEase Games (NASDAQ: NTES and HKEX: 9999) announced on Thursday that it has established its first game studio in the United States.

The game studio named Jackalope Games is located in Austin, Texas. It is said that the studio will focus on the development of PC and console games as a first-party studio of NetEase Games.

Jackalope Games is led by game industry veteran Jack Emmert who was involved in the development of blockbuster titles such as City of Heroes, Neverwinter, Star Trek Online and DC Universe Online, etc. Emmert has worked on games based on some of the biggest media franchises and has decades of experience in making MMORPG.

“NetEase Games is the best possible place for me and my team to thrive,” Emmert said. “We share the same passion – to create engaging online universes for gamers worldwide. NetEase Games is providing the support and resources needed to build a great studio and great games.”

The studio will be operating in the United States independently and maintain in control of its creative and publishing directions. Jackalope Games’ first project is funded entirely by NetEase Games.

The game studio believes that cooperation and diversity are the essential factors that can make the studio successful. Headquartered in Austin, Jackalope Games supports a virtual office space and recruits talents from all over the world.

Founded in 2001, NetEase Games is the online games division of NetEase, developing and operating some of the most popular mobile and PC games in China and Japan. It is one of the biggest video game companies in the world. NetEase video games include, the Westward Journey series, Tianxia III, Heroes of Tang Dynasty Zero, Ghost II, Nostos and Onmyoji. NetEase also partners with Activision Blizzard to operate Chinese versions of their games, such as World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Overwatch.