A little over two years ago, NetEase announced the foundation of T-Minus Zero Entertainment, an Austin-based game developer featuring an ensemble of former BioWare and Bethesda veterans. However, last week founder and studio head Rich Vogel (Star Wars Galaxies, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Doom, New World, Halo Infinite) announced via LinkedIn that the partnership with NetEase has already ended:
We deeply appreciate NetEase for providing us with both ample runway and support - from helping us find potential investors to giving us the time and budget to develop our game into a fully playable hands-on demo. It has generated a lot of interest. However, despite this progress, current market conditions have prevented us from securing the funding we need at this time.
In these moments, you can't help but reflect on how our team has overcome obstacles and transformed them into something groundbreaking. The dedication and passion each team member brought were the foundation of our success. The amount of work we achieved in creating a playable demo was truly impressive, demonstrating the strength of what our team can accomplish. We recognize that now may not be the best time to seek funding given today’s climate, but our playable demo proves our potential to develop something fresh and exciting that will resonate with players for years. We take pride in the solid foundation we’ve built together.
Speaking to Game Developer, NetEase clarified that T-Minus Zero Entertainment is shutting down, although it added that it is helping the studio 'explore next steps' and provide support.
As the founders had revealed in an exclusive Wccftech interview from September 2023, the studio was working on a third-person online multiplayer action game based on a sci-fi IP available in the public domain. During that chat, they teased ambitious, never-before-seen features.
A few more details about the project were shared in the comments of the aforementioned LinkedIn announcement by Simon Zhu, former President of Global Investments and Partnership at NetEase:
Their project delivers great fantasy of fighting against 15th floor kaiju to protect the city you care about. It is a loss for players if the game would be on their hands. Great team and project.
It sounds interesting enough as a pitch, especially since it was never fully realized in a recent game. Unfortunately, we might never play it, just like several other NetEase projects that got their funding cut earlier this year.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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