Tencent, the China-based megacorp, which has invested heavily in large companies such as Riot Games and Epic Games, has captured a majority stake in a much smaller company. This company is the Canadian game developer Klei Entertainment.
The news comes through a post on the forum by Klei founder Jamie Cheng. He said the partnership “helps us navigate a changing industry and helps us focus on what we want to do best: make unique experiences that no one else can do.”
Cheng explained that as part of the agreement, “Klei retains full autonomy of creativity and operations in all aspects of the study.”
Tencent and Klei’s relationship dates back to 2016, when the conglomerate began publishing Klei games in China Don’t starve Together and more recently, Don’t Stave: Newhome.
In 2020, Tencent faced some regulatory pressure from the U.S. government on its ownership of the WeChat messaging app. There was a brief moment when the government appeared to intend to announce an “investment ban” on the company, along with other Chinese corporations such as Alibaba and Baidu.
When the Trump administration began to end, Reuters reported that the ban had been lifted.