Tencent Looking to Offload Game Dev Investments, Even at a Loss

Mission abort from Chinese company

Chinese firm Tencent is attempting to exit many of its investments in Japanese game companies, and it's willing to take a loss in the process, according to a new Bloomberg report.

Due to the current downturn in the video games industry and its need to catch up in the AI space, the outfit is evaluating its investments and "assessing which still hold promise to be high performers". The report names Marvelous as one of the studios it's looking to withdraw investment from, of which it owns 20%. It publishes the Story of Seasons and Rune Factory titles.

While the other teams it's looking to cut ties with aren't mentioned, it's said that Tencent is "preparing to sell stakes back to the original management team, even if it means incurring a loss".

Tencent also owns a minority stake in Kadokawa Corporation, along with Elden Ring team FromSoftware and PlatinumGames. These investments are said to be unaffected by the company's intended withdrawal from the games industry in Japan.

In a statement responding to the claims, Tencent told Bloomberg: "Video games are core to Tencent’s business. We remain fully committed to working with our investees and maintaining our strong presence in the Japanese game market over the long term."

We'll have to see what happens in the coming months and year to see what developers Tencent drops — if any.

Of course, Tencent has entered into a joint venture with Ubisoft and now has some level of control over the Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six franchises. It also tried to rip off Sony's own Horizon series, but failed to get its project through legal battles after PlayStation turned down the idea.

[source bloomberg.com]