Potential deal of the month. Chinese giant Tencent wants to fully buy out Funcom. He is ready to pay $148 million for all shares of the Norwegian studio.
The publisher is already the largest shareholder of the studio, he owns 29% of Funcom. The purchase of securities took place last fall for an undeclared amount.
Now, according to Gamesindustry.biz, Tencent announced its intention to acquire the entire remaining stake. He offers Funcom shareholders a price 27.3% higher than the market value of the shares.
The management of Funcom has no objections to the deal with the Chinese publisher. The studio calls its relationship with him excellent, so it recommends that the shareholders agree to the terms of Tencent. Although they have every right to reject the offer.
Tencent sees Funcom as a strong developer with a lot of experience. The latter creates games of various genres: from quests and action to MMO in the open world. So, among his works there are Conan Exiles, The Secret World, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. Funcom has also published a step-by-step Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden.
Note: the deal will bring Funcom additional funds for the development of the title for IP Dune. It may become her biggest project, according to the studio management.
Tencent is increasingly buying out stakes in Western studios. Among them are Activision Blizzard, Epic Games and smaller companies.
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