Chinese media mega-conglomerate Tencent has acquired a minority share of Playtonic Games, the developer and publisher behind throwback 3D platformer franchise Yooka-Laylee, and, via its publishing arm Playtonic Friends, publisher of titles like Demon Turf and BPM: Bullets Per Minute.
Despite this new business move, Playtonic says it will maintain full creative control over its future projects. The studio will reportedly use this new funding to expand its single development team into multiple teams, expanding its staff, and possibly even branching out into new locations.
In a press release, Playtonic founder Gavin Price said of the new business partnership:
“Six years ago we built a cool, exciting rocket ship, set a course we think is right and exciting…We are thrilled that Tencent agrees with that course and has provided some rocket fuel to further the reach of our mission. With Tencent’s help we can scale up and fast-track the super-exciting, super-secret projects we’ve been keeping close to our treasure chests too. Things are going to get Bat Ship Crazy over the next few years! Please imagine a wink emoji right now.”
Tencent’s minority stake acquisition of Playtonic Games is the latest in a number of prominent purchases. Tencent already has investments in over 800 firms, making it one of the biggest companies by market value in the world.
Tencent already owns Riot Games, as well as holding a 40% stake in Epic Games and holding shares in PlatinumGames, Marvelous Inc., Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Krafton, and PlatinumGames.
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