Xbox Game Studios will now work closely with the Chinese TiMi Studios, the “daughter” of Tencent and the developers of Honor of Kings and Call of Duty: Mobile. We are talking about creating game content, but both companies have not yet disclosed the details of the partnership.This became known today from the official press release.
TiMi Studios promises to share details of strategic cooperation with Xbox Game Studios during this year.
Given that Tencent is engaged in the official distribution of the Nintendo Switch in China, TiMi Studios could also help Microsoft’s console enter the Celestial market. However, the official statement says only about “joint creation of game content.”
Analyst Daniel Ahmad commented on the news of the partnership between the two companies. In his opinion, this can help Microsoft increase the popularity of its gaming IP in China before the launch of the Xbox Series X|S in the country and increase the brand awareness of TiMi Studios in the global market.
The revenue of the Tencent subsidiary for 2020 amounted to $10 billion. According to Sensor Tower, its main hit Honor of Kings earned $2.5 billion last year.
Now TiMi Studios is preparing to release Pokémon Unite, a MOBA game for mobile platforms and Nintendo Switch. After that, the studio will switch to the development of AAA titles for PC and consoles. According to Ahmad, one of such projects will be a multiplatform shooter based on Unreal Engine 5.