Game studio building stylized titles on Unreal Engine 5 under NetEase Games
Highdive is a Montreal-based game studio under NetEase Games' ThunderFire label, focused on original IP and stylized projects running on Unreal Engine 5. The tech stack is heavily weighted toward 3D asset creation (Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Houdini, SpeedTree) and real-time rendering (HLSL, GLSL, Unreal Insights), with active work on character dynamics, rigging automation, and VFX pipelines—suggesting a production phase emphasizing visual fidelity and technical optimization. Hiring is accelerating across design roles (8 positions) with senior and lead seniority levels, while engineering focus remains narrow (3 roles), indicating a studio scaling art and creative output rather than platform infrastructure.
Notable leadership hires: Lead Artist
Highdive develops original games and new IP under the NetEase Games ThunderFire label. The studio, founded in 2019 and based in Montréal, employs 51–200 people and operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary focused on stylized game creation. Current projects span a linear adventure game, character-driven titles, and pipeline tooling for Unreal Engine 5 workflows. The engineering and art teams are actively addressing gameplay responsiveness, animation pipeline optimization, and performance constraints—standard challenges for console and PC game development at scale.
Highdive uses Unreal Engine 5 as its primary engine, supported by a full suite of asset-creation tools: Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Houdini, and SpeedTree for modeling, texturing, and procedural assets.
Highdive is developing original IP and stylized projects, including a linear adventure game and multiple original titles under Unreal 5. Active work includes character dynamics, rigging tool automation, VFX pipeline development, and performance optimization.
Highdive's technology stack, projects, and hiring signals are inferred from public hiring and company data — career pages, public listings, and company web presence — then clustered and de-duplicated. Figures are estimates that refresh over time. Read our full methodology →
This is not an official vendor or customer list. It is a technology-adoption signal inferred from public data, intended for B2B research.