What you need to know
- Chinese entertainment and tech conglomerate Tencent is investing in Dying Light developer Techland, acquiring a majority of shares in the company.
- Techland will retain ownership of its IP, which including the Dying Light zombie survival games and a still-unrevealed upcoming fantasy game.
- Techland CEO Pawel Marchewka says that Techland will maintain creative freedom and “continue to operate the way we believe is right.”
Another big developer is being (mostly) acquired.
Techland CEO Pawel Marchewka shared on Monday that Tencent will be heavily investing in the company, acquiring the majority of shares in Techland.
“Teaming up with Tencent will allow us to move full speed ahead with the execution of the vision for our games,” Marchewka says. “We have chosen an ally who has already partnered with some of the world’s finest video game companies and helped them reach new heights while respecting their ways of doing things.”
Marchewka added that “We will retain full ownership of our IPs, maintain creative freedom, and continue to operate the way we believe is right. I’m also going to continue serving as the studio’s CEO.”
Best known for the two successful Dying Light games, Techland is currently early in development on a yet-unnamed open world fantasy action-RPG.
Tencent has previously invested heavily across the gaming industry, acquiring minority stakes in a number of companies such as Dontnod, Ubisoft and PlatinumGames, as well as investing heavily in Epic Games and acquiring a number of individual studios such as Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock.
Windows Central’s take
This makes a large amount of sense. Techland has had a lot of success with the Dying Light games, but Dying Light 2 took a lot longer to develop than anticipated, and the company likely wants additional financial support before the arrival of its next game.
Tencent has slowed its mergers and acquisitions activity somewhat in the last couple of years as regulatory scrutiny has increased, but the company clearly isn’t done, and remains the largest gaming company in the world by revenue.
