Jar of Sparks, Jerry Hook’s new, studio will not be making mobile games… for now

Yesterday, prominent mobile game publisher NetEase unveiled new game studio Jar of Sparks. Headlined by Xbox Live and Halo Infinite developer Jerry Hook, the new studio was presumed to be another entry in NetEase’s impressive catalogue of mobile developers. That’s not the case. 

Jar of Sparks will be a PC and Console developer 

Despite presumptions that Jar of Sparks would be a mobile developer, NetEase spokespersons have informed us that this will not be the case. At least not initially. Instead, the new AAA studio is developing console and PC games. 

In a number of emails, NetEase spokespersons tell us that Jar of Sparks isn’t focused on mobile. PC and console will be the studio’s first port of call, joining other console NetEase games like Naraka: Bladepoint. 

Despite this, NetEase informed us that mobile is still on the cards. With the game publisher being one of the most prominent mobile companies, the studio could eventually pivot to mobile, or release a mobile port of their upcoming console game. However, that’s all conjecture. 

“It’s quite too early to say the studio will never develop any title published on mobile devices, as the market and the tech changing fast,” they told us. “But the studio will mainly focus on PC and console titles. At the current stage, the main goal for the studio is to form a team with members share the same vision and direction, which is focus on creating the next generation of narrative-driven action games.”

When will they release their first game? 

No details are currently available on Jar of Sparks’ first game. However, as is typical of a brand-new game studio, we do know that it is a number of years away. 

“He [Jerry Hook] estimates that the studio’s first game is three to four years away,” NetEase informed us. This follows the same timeline as other new studios’ development timelines, such as The Initiative. 

All that’s known about the game is that it is a narrative title. However, we would expect the title to be action-heavy. With the studio’s employees currently consisting of 343 Industries veterans and devs from the Batman: Arkham series, anything is possible.