HONG KONG/PARIS – Chinese gaming giants Tencent Holdings and NetEase have extended their investment in overseas studios, with the former to take a stake in Japan's FromSoftware and the latter acquiring French developer Quantic Dream. Tencent, operator of the WeChat messaging app and the world's largest gaming company by revenue, will take a 16.25 per cent stake in FromSoftware Inc,...
The logo of internet technology company Netease is seen at the China Digital Entertainment Expo and Conference, also known as ChinaJoy, in Shanghai, China, on July 30, 2021.HONG KONG/PARIS – Chinese gaming giants Tencent Holdings and NetEase have extended their investment in overseas studios, with the former to take a stake in Japan's FromSoftware and the latter acquiring French developer Quantic Dream.
The investments by Tencent and Sony Group Corp, which Kadokawa said is also taking a minority stake, will together raise 36.4 billion yen for the company. The two high-profile deals reflect Chinese gaming firms' continued pivot overseas as growth in the domestic market, which had been key for both Tencent and NetEase, loses steam.
China launched a sweeping crackdown, now easing, on its high-growth tech sector, in part alarmed by what regulators called "disorderly expansion of capital" after acquisition sprees by tech companies.