The Chinese giant Tencent has made a new deal, acquiring 37% of the shares from Hero Entertainment in the Chinese studio Kuro Games, known for the role-playing gacha game Wuthering Waves.
Wuthering Waves
Tencent is now the only external shareholder of Kuro Games. It is worth noting that this is not the first time Tencent has bought shares in the studio. Previously, the holding owned a 14.4% stake. As a result, it now holds a controlling stake in Kuro Games.
The terms and amount of the deal are unknown. It is reported only that Kuro Games will continue to operate independently.
Kuro Games was founded in 2017. By the end of 2023, it ranked among the top 1000 most valuable private companies in the world established after 2000, according to the Hurun Research Institute. As of the end of last year, its market value was estimated at $1.7 billion — making the studio more valuable than Tripledot Studios ($1.4 billion), Mythical Games ($1.3 billion), and Playco ($1 billion).
According to the analytics service AppMagic, Kuro Games' mobile versions alone have brought the studio over $286 million in net IAP revenue to date. Of this amount, $159.5 million came from Punishing: Gray Raven and $126.9 million from Wuthering Waves.