Chinese publisher Netease has signed a deal with UK tech firm Improbable to use its cloud-based platform SpatialOS.

The technology is designed to enable developers to offload computations to a cloud-based platform to bypass some of the limitations of PC, console and mobile platforms. In theory this means developers can create larger, persistent worlds inhabited by a greater number of players at once.

China expansion

The “broad partnership” will see the Chinese company behind titles like Knives Out, Fantasy Westward Journey and Onmyoji make and publish new games built on the platform.

Improbable expects the deal to lead to it opening an office in China as it looks to break into the potentially very lucrative games market there.

Last year Improbable raised $502 million in a series B funding round led by Japanese telecoms company Softbank. More recently it announced a deal that saw Finnish developer Playraven become the first mobile studio to use the tech.

This story originally appeared on our sibling site PocketGamer.biz