Tencent, the Chinese megacorp, which has invested heavily in large companies such as Riot Games and Epic Games, has won a majority stake in a much smaller company. This company is the Canadian game developer Klei Entertainment.
The news comes through a forum post by Klei founder Jamie Cheng. He said the partnership “helps us navigate a changing industry and helps us focus on what we want to do best: create unique experiences that no one else can.”
Cheng explained that as part of the transaction, “Klei retains full autonomy of creation and operations in all aspects of the studio.”
Tencent and Klei’s relationship dates back to 2016, when the conglomerate started publishing Klei games in China Do not starve Together and more recently, Don’t Stave: Newhome.
In 2020, Tencent faced some regulatory pressure from the US government on its ownership of the WeChat messaging app. There was a brief moment when the government seemed intent on announcing an “investment ban” on the company, along with other Chinese corporations such as Alibaba and Baidu.
As the Trump administration began to quit, Reuters reported that the ban had been lifted.