Grasshopper Manufacture, the Tokyo studio founded by Goichi Suda, better known as Suda51, is going independent again. The developer said on September 30 that it has separated from NetEase Games, the Chinese publisher that bought it in 2021. The change takes effect on October 1. That leaves one of Japan's most distinctive action studios in charge of its own future just months after it shipped its biggest project in years.
What Grasshopper announced
The announcement came as a message from Suda51, who co-founded the studio and serves as its CEO. It links the decision directly to Romeo Is a Dead Man, the sci-fi action game Grasshopper released in February 2026. Suda described the game as an all-hands project for the whole company. After it launched, and after the studio marked its 28th anniversary in March, Grasshopper started talking about what should come next.
The conclusion, according to the statement, was that the team wants to make games in a much wider variety of styles than before, and that it can do that best as an independent company. Grasshopper stressed that it reached the decision after long talks with NetEase, and it thanked the publisher for its "generous cooperation." It also said the two companies are on good terms, and it left the door open to working together again.
Self-publishing is now on the table
The most practical line in the message is about publishing. Suda said Grasshopper has built up its own self-publishing know-how and now has a broad range of options. So the studio no longer needs a parent company or a traditional publishing deal to get a game onto store shelves. It can partner up, sign with a publisher, or release titles itself, depending on the project.
Whatever route it takes, Grasshopper promised to keep making the sort of games it is known for, under its long-running "NO GAME NO LIFE" motto. That kind of reassurance matters for a studio whose identity rests on eccentric, auteur-driven games. Its catalogue runs from killer7 and the No More Heroes series to Lollipop Chainsaw and Shadows of the Damned.
Romeo Is a Dead Man was the NetEase-era game
NetEase's backing gave Grasshopper the resources for Romeo Is a Dead Man, a gory action game that mixes melee and gunplay across several visual styles. It came out on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam, and it was the only game the studio released while it was owned by NetEase.
The statement does not say anything about intellectual property. It does not say whether Romeo Is a Dead Man, or anything else made under NetEase, goes with the studio or stays with its former owner. Grasshopper also did not reveal what it is working on next, or when it will say more.
Part of a wider NetEase retreat
Grasshopper's exit fits a clear pattern. Over the last few years NetEase has cut back hard on the overseas studios it spent heavily to acquire or fund during its expansion push. The company closed Worlds Untold in Canada in 2024, put Jar of Sparks on hold in 2025, and laid off staff at Sweden's Liquid Swords. It also cut its US-based Marvel Rivals team.
Plenty of studios in that position have simply closed. Grasshopper walking out as a going concern, with the publisher's blessing and its founder still in charge, is one of the better outcomes the wind-down has produced. It is also the first time Grasshopper has stood fully on its own in more than a decade, since GungHo Online Entertainment acquired it in 2013, before NetEase took over in 2021.
What to watch for
For now, the only firm facts are the split itself and its October 1 effective date. The next questions are who holds the rights to the studio's recent work, what Grasshopper does first with its new freedom, and whether that first project is self-published or goes out with a new partner. Since Suda has said he wants the studio to try a wider range of styles, Grasshopper's next announcement could look quite different from its recent games.
