The Chinese giant Tencent does not stop investing in Western assets. This time the company became a minority owner of the French studio Dontnod Entertainment, known for the titles Vampyr, Twin Mirror and the franchise Life Is Strange.
Life Is Strange
The attraction of new investments was announced by Dontnod itself.
The studio raised money during an accelerated book building, which ended this morning. We are talking about a process during which investors are asked how many shares and at what price they are ready to purchase. Based on this information, the company issues shares for sale.
In total, Dontnod received about €40 million from its partners. Most of this money was brought by Tencent, which immediately invested €30 million.
According to the head of Dontnod, Oskar Guilbert, the deal with Tencent will help accelerate the development of the studio. For example, now developers will be able to independently publish games and enter the Chinese market.
Thanks to this partnership, Dontnod has received an ideal opportunity for rapid growth — in particular, in China and on mobile platforms. The increase in capital will allow us to implement our development strategy faster. This strategy is aimed at getting more out of our original games through self-publishing.
Head of Dontnod
Dontnod was founded in 2008. During this time, the studio managed to cooperate with such publishers as Microsoft, Square Enix, Bandai Namco and Capcom. The last two projects of the developers were Tell Me Why and Twin Mirror, released in 2020. At the same time, Twin Mirror was the first game that the French published without the help of third-party companies.