Tencent continues to invest in other companies and increase its activity in the M&A market. This time, the Chinese giant acquired 20.6% of the local indie studio Surgical Scalpels. She is currently developing Boundary, a multiplayer space shooter for PS4 and PC.
Boundary
This was reported by analyst Daniel Ahmad with reference to the Chinese rating agency Qixinbao. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
The independent studio Surgical Scalpels was founded in 2015 by several veterans of the gaming industry, and its office is located in Shenzhen. Her main focus is the development of games for consoles, PC and VR.
Surgical Scalpels is a participant of the China Hero Project, a special Sony program to support Chinese developers. Within its framework, the studio is developing a cooperative space shooter Boundary, which will be released this year for PS4 and PC.
This year, Tencent is clearly aiming to strengthen its position in the PC and console market. This is indicated by the list of studios in which she has invested in recent months. Among them are both Chinese developers and international companies:
- Game Science — the authors of the role-playing action Black Myth: Wu Kong, which is based on the classic epic “Journey to the West”;
- Dark Star — developers focused on boss battles action RPG Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption;
- Cotton Games — creators of the quest adventure Mr. Pumpkin’s Adventure;
- Klei Entertainment — the authors of the Don’t Starve survival series;
- Mundfish is a Moscow studio working on Atomic Heart;
- Dontnod is an independent French developer and publisher, the authors of Life Is Strange;
- Bohemia Interactive — Czech studio, known for Arma and DayZ;
- Payload Studios is a British studio that developed the TerraTech sandbox.
In 2020, Tencent set a record for M&A deals by investing in 31 studios. Ahmad notes that now the company’s activity is even higher, and therefore by the end of 2021 it can set a new record.