ARMA & DayZ developer Bohemia Interactive receives minority investment from Tencent
Tencent has invested in a minority stake in Czechia developer Bohemia Interactive, which the latter intends to use to remain independent in development and publishing.
As much money as it has, it’s getting harder and harder to find a developer that Tencent doesn’t have a stake in these days. Often, we’ve seen the Chinese game publishing giant acquire studios or developers outright, but occasionally, Tencent simply invests a small share in companies looking to remain independent. It would appear that the latter is the case again with ARMA and DayZ developer Bohemia Interactive. The group recently announced that Tencent has invested in a minority stake in the studio.
Bohemia Interactive announced Tencent’s “strategic minority investment” in a press release and message from the studio CEO Marek Španěl on February 9, 2021.
“We are pleased to deepen our relationship with Tencent, one of the most significant internet companies in the world,” Španěl wrote. “We look forward to working on our current and future generations of games with the support of a strong partner that has known us for many years and understands our unique approach to online games.”
https://t.co/vfm0QgXBQv We welcome a new partner to Bohemia Interactive! The existing management and co-founders keep control over the business and this strategic minority investment will support our current and future endeavours. Wishing you all happy new year of the ox :)
— Marek Spanel (@maruksp) February 9, 2021
This is an interesting turn of events, as back in June 2020, it was rumored that Tencent had interest in acquiring Bohemia Interactive - a rumor that Bohemia seemingly denied at the time. While a minority stake investment is certainly less than a full-on acquiring, it seems Bohemia Interactive decided it would be best go the route of several other recent developers, accepting investment from Tencent in order to remain independent in its publishing and development
Also notable is that Tencent and Bohemia definitely have a prior relationship, with Tencent having helped bring Bohemia’s more recent project Ylands over to the WeGames gaming and social platform for publication in China.
Bohemia Interactive’s deal with Tencent is part of a trend, with PlatinumGames and DONTNOD Entertainment also having recently accepted minority investments from the publisher to pursue their own independent development and publishing goals. And so it seems that the ARMA and DayZ developer is the latest to join the list of devs Tencent has its financial hand in.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, ARMA & DayZ developer Bohemia Interactive receives minority investment from Tencent
