The US Department of Defense has added Chinese gaming giant to a list of companies allegedly aiding the Chinese military, a decision that Tencent itself calls a "mistake".
According to a Reuters report, Tencent was added to the DOD's list alongside battery manufacturer CATL, causing the shares of both companies to drop. Tencent's stocks fell by 7.3%, while CATL's dropped by just 2.8%.
The Reuters report goes on to say that Tencent responded to the DOD's decision by calling it a "mistake" and suggesting that its business would be unaffected by the move. The Chinese gaming giant also suggested it would begin legal proceedings if necessary.
As Reuters points out, the list, which is officially known as the Section 1260H list, doesn't prohibit Tencent from doing business in the US, so it's unlikely to have any material impact on the company's dealings in the short term.
However, having a presence on the list can sometimes serve as a blow to a company's reputation in the US, which could prevent other companies from wanting to do business with Tencent.
Given just how many pies Tencent has its fingers in across the gaming industry, it's unlikely that there will be a mass exodus of studios breaking their agreements with the Chinese gaming giant, but this still likely won't come as pleasing news to the company.
As for what Tencent is up to outside of its addition to this list, the studio is busy working with developers both Western and non-Western on a number of different projects.
The gaming giant is currently working with Capcom on mobile RPG Monster Hunter Outlanders, and it's also behind the extremely Horizon-coded Light of Motiram, which was unveiled in full back in November.
Tencent is also attracting talent like Dragon's Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno, who joined subsidiary LightSpeed Studios recently (but not the branch that's currently working on Final Fantasy XIV Mobile, another Tencent project).
