Tencent continues its relentless policy of acquisitions with Stunlock Studios, the Swedish game developer known for games like Bloodline Champions, Dead Island: Epidemic, and most recently Battlerite.
Yesterday, a press release revealed that Tencent purchased a majority stake in the company. Michelle Liu, CEO of Tencent Games Global, said:
We’ve known – and been highly impressed by – Stunlock for a long time. We continue to look to partner with the most talented development teams in the world to bring the best-quality games to the industry.
Stunlock Studios CEO Rickard Frisegård added:
It’s an honor to represent the biggest game company in the world from the small town of Skövde, Sweden. Tencent’s new investment shows a great deal of trust in us delivering quality titles with our focus on gameplay first. It will give us the opportunity to realize our grand vision for V Rising, our current game in development, and help us in future ventures, expanding long-term as a studio.
Just a couple of days ago, Bloomberg reported that Tencent may be gearing to buy UK developer Sumo Digital in a whopping $1.2 billion deal. The Chinese giant already fully owns Riot Games, Funcom, Sharkmob, and Leyou, while also having majority stakes in Klei Entertainment, 10 Chambers Collective, Yager Development, Grinding Gear Games, and minority stakes in Epic Games, Fatshark, Dontnod Entertainment, Kakao Games, Krafton, Frontier Developments, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Paradox Interactive, Remedy Entertainment, and Bohemia Interactive. They also announced a capital investment in PlatinumGames.
As for Stunlock Studios, the Swedish developer recently announced V Rising, a vampire survival game where you will both cooperate and compete with other players. It will retain Battlerite's acclaimed combat and the top-down camera while introducing other elements, such as a gothic open world, crafting, castle management, and more. The Closed Beta is due to begin later this year; you can sign up for it on this page.
