Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent has made yet another investment in video games. This time around, the behemoth has acquired a majority stake in…
Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent has made yet another investment in video games.
This time around, the behemoth has acquired a majority stake in Grinding Gear, the developer behind Path of Exile. The two firms already had a partnership; Tencent was the Chinese publisher for the RPG.
The deal was announced via the Path of Exile forum, in which the firm said that Grinding Gears would remain independent and that it believes Tencent wants to help them make the game as best as possible.
“Our Chinese publisher, Tencent, has acquired a majority stake in Grinding Gear Games,” the firm wrote.
“We will remain an independent company and there won’t be any big changes to how we operate. We want to reassure the community that this will not affect the development and operations of Path of Exile, so we have prepared answers to some questions you may have about this investment.
“Tencent is one of the largest companies in the world and also one of the largest games publishers in the world. Tencent owns giant franchises like League of Legends and Clash of Clans and has a strong reputation for respecting the design decisions of developers and studios they invest in, allowing a high level of autonomy in continuing to operate and develop their games.
“We have been approached by many potential acquirers over the last five years, but always felt that they didn’t understand Path of Exile, or that they had other agendas (like signing users up to their services). Tencent’s agenda is clear: to give us the resources to make Path of Exile as good as it can be.”
The company continued: “We spoke to CEOs of other companies that Tencent has invested in, and have been assured that Tencent has never tried to interfere with game design or operations outside of China. We retain full control of Path of Exile and will only make changes that we feel are best for the game.”
Path of Exile launched in 2013 on PC.
Grinding Gear is just the latest in a long line of games investments that Tencent has made. Recently, other such deals have included PUBG Corp, Ubisoft, Milky Tea and Frontier Developments.
Despite roughly half of the Chinese firm’s revenue coming from games, the medium barely got a mention when Tencent signed a cultural partnership with the UK’s Department for International Trade .
