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Update, June 3, 11.06am:
Tencent Holdings has not acquired a stake in Bohemia Interactive. The developer stated that the report is “not true,” and it was “talking to numerous potential partners” for “possible strategic cooperation.” Right now, the developer is independent.
Bohemia Interactive has said the news that Tencent had acquired a majority stake in the company, originally reported by @theinformation, is not true.
Will update further if Tencent or The Information comment. https://t.co/RmjPvzFzNv https://t.co/UvBPnInryd pic.twitter.com/pOnxCBSm3y
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) June 3, 2020
Original story, June 3, 9.48am:
Tencent Holdings has purchased a majority stake—70 to 80 per cent—in Bohemia Interactive, the developer of Arma 3 and DayZ (via PC Gamer).
Tencent Holdings is the one of the world’s most valuable companies, and it is the world’s largest video game companies. As well as developing and hosting its own games through Tencent Games, it also possesses stakes in Epic Games, Supercell, and Ubisoft, and has a capital investment in Platinum Games. Riot Games, Funcom, and Sharkmob are totally owned by Tencent Holdings.
According to the report from The Information, the company paid $260 million for a 70-80 per cent stake. The two companies have a pre-existing relationship, because in 2018, Bohemia Interactive partnered with Tencent Holdings to publish its sandbox title Ylands on WeGame, the latter’s distribution platform.
Daniel Ahmad, analyst at Niko Partners, said that this move is an attempt to compete with NetEase, the company that distributes Minecraft in China. “Tencent is filling a gap in PC sandbox games as they don’t have their own self-published titles,” said Ahmad to The Information.
