Tencent, the Chinese technology and video game giant, owns a minority share in numerous studios while possessing a majority control of others. A few of the names under the company's belt include the likes of Ubisoft, Epic Games, Riot Games, Funcom, and many more. Marvelous, who may be known by their western company and localization brand Xseed, Senran Kagura, and Story of Seasons publisher, are the latest to join the list. As of today, 20% of the Japanese developer and publisher is owned by Tencent, valued at around 7 Billion Yen or $66m US.
The investment comes through the Chinese's affiliate, Image Frame Investment. This isn't the first time we hear both these companies' names mentioned together. Back in March 2019, Tencent gave the green light and licensed Marvelous to develop the Story of Seasons mobile port.
Ace Research Institute's analyst, Hideki Yasuda, shared his thoughts on the deal and what may transpire from Tencent's control over 20% of Marvelous. He justified it as curiosity from the Chinese to learn how to develop console games, while aiding Marvelous continue their projects and create even more titles. Not only that, this injection of money will undoubtedly help the Japanese studio ride through the ongoing pandemic and its economical impact.
Tencent’s reason for the investment is probably to learn how to make console games from Japanese companies, one of the last frontiers for the Chinese tech company’s game business. The investment will help Marvelous ride through the period of global economic uncertainty, and release more of its domestically-popular titles to the Western market.
None of the titles under development at Marvelous are announced or revealed yet, but the studio promises to release new entries as well as unique IPs over the next three years.
What do you think of Tencent's ever growing grip over the gaming industry? Who will they look towards next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
