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Grasshopper Manufacture regained its independence by buying back the shares NetEase held in the studio, founder Goichi Suda (Suda51) told 4Gamer in an interview published on 2 November 2026. “We bought back the shares NetEase held, and we will run the company ourselves again,” he said. In the same interview he said the new game he had expected to release this year has slipped into next year.
The studio had announced its independence on 30 September. Grasshopper’s statement, signed by Suda as representative director and CEO, said it was independent of “former parent company NetEase Games” as of 1 October 2026, after discussions with NetEase, and that it would “look forward to further collaboration when the opportunity arises.” The statement did not say how the split was carried out. The share buyback is the first detail on that point.
Staff departures and a delayed new game
Suda told 4Gamer that the studio’s size should not change much, although several staff members left because they were uneasy about the move to independence. Grasshopper is now recruiting a small number of experienced developers and is not limiting the roles. He did not give a headcount.
Suda did not name the delayed game or its platforms. “It’s next year rather than this year, but I hope people will look forward to it,” he said. He also said the earlier plan to release three large games in ten years had been based on an agreement with NetEase and would now “take a different form.”
He described the studio’s self-publishing of Romeo is a Dead Man as hard work, especially promotion and reaching players, and said spending a larger budget on marketing is the next challenge. As an independent company, he said, Grasshopper is “absolutely open” to talks about investment. Other plans are less definite: Suda wants to bring older titles such as Killer is Dead, which is playable on Steam but not on current consoles, back into circulation, restart some kind of merchandise after the studio’s shop closed, and try small projects led by younger staff. He also said he would like to make a Gundam game, without announcing any project.
Suda founded Grasshopper in 1998, so it turns 30 in 2028. NetEase acquired the studio in 2021, when it was part of the GungHo group. Romeo is a Dead Man, released in February 2026, was the only new game the studio shipped under NetEase, Game Informer noted when the split was announced.