Tencent acquires minority stake in Playtonic

Published , by TJ Denzer

Another notable acquisition has taken place in the video game industry, this time with Playtonic selling a minority stake of its company to Tencent Gaming. A deal has been agreed upon by both parties for Tencent to purchase a minority stake of shares in the company, which Playtonic has signaled will be used to expand its previously single team into a multi-team studio.

Playtonic announced the sale of minority stake to Tencent Games in a press release on its website on November 18, 2021. According to the announcement, both parties have agreed to the deal, though the exact terms, number of shares, and total value of the deal was not disclosed in the announcement. Nonetheless, it will give Tencent a minority stake in Playtonic overall. Simultaneously, Playtonic assured fans that it will remain in full creative control of its IPs as it expands its overall studio to bring more developers in and establish multiple teams within its offices.

In addition to studio IPs like Yookah-Laylee, Playtonic has published a number of further games like Demon Turf under its Playtonic Friends label.

Playtonic founder and studio head Gavin Price was thrilled to be able to gain the resources to expand Playtonic’s efforts beyond what was previously possible.

With the aforementioned establishment of publishing wing Playtonic Friends, the studio had already been expanding its efforts with its own games and the games of developers under its wing. With Tencent’s investment, it will be interesting to see how Playtonic further expands.