Tencent is refocusing its acquisition strategy to "aggressively" seek out opportunities to buy majority or controlling stakes in gaming companies outside of China, according to a report by Reuters.
The move was reportedly made to offset China's slowing growth, with Tencent notably eyeing gaming assents in Europe.
As noted by Reuters, Tencent remains to be the world's largest gaming firm by revenue, typically acquiring minority stakes and staying invested as a passive financial investor.
Moving forward, Tencent will hope to lean more into global markets for its growth and secure a strong portfolio of chart-topping games.
In September, Tencent invested $297 Million in Ubisoft to acquire a minority stake of 49.9% and 5% voting rights in Guillemot Brothers Limited, the company Ubisoft's founders use to manage Ubisoft. A month earlier, Tencent increased its stake in Elden Ring development studio, FromSoftware, to 16.25%.
Tencent already owns Riot Games, a connection that likely spurred its acquisition of Tequila Works. The conglomerate has also expanded its holdings in the video game industry with Epic Games, Remedy, Sumo, Marvelous, Dontnod, Klei, Platinum, Bohemia Interactive, Playtonic, Roblox and Krafton; it owns Funcom, Sharkmob, Turtle Rock Studios, Inflexion Games and its own Timi Studios.
In China, the last two years of crackdown and regulation have reportedly spelled uncertainty for tech titans such as Tencent, weighing on their sales at home and triggering a massive selloff in their stocks.
In April, it was reported that the Chinese government spent the last nine months refusing to allow any new games to be released in the country, only breaking that drought to provide licenses to 45 games — many of which were developed in China. More than 14,000 development studios reportedly closed in China over that time. That was also the second nine-month freeze on approvals following another in 2018.
This article was originally published on dbltap as Tencent Reportedly Refocusing on 'Aggressively' Acquiring More Gaming Studios.
