Tencent buys Back 4 Blood/Left 4 Dead developer Turtle Rock

Tencent is a Chinese tech company that already has the shares of League of LegendsRiot Games, Supercell and Funcom are all developers. Ubisoft also has stakes in Epic Games. Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft. Turtle Rock Studios will be the new owner of Back 4 BloodAnd Evolution.

Tencent and Turtle Rock announced the acquisition Friday, saying that the video game developer will become part of Tencent “while retaining its independent operations […] and its existing team will continue to run all studio operations, led by co-founders Phil Robb and Chris Ashton.” Turtle Rock’s acquisition by Tencent “will have no effect on “Back 4 Blood”,” the Left 4 Dead spiritual sequel that launched in October.

Turtle Rock is the latest addition to a growing number of games investments Tencent made in other countries than China. Tencent just this year has made major or majority investments in:

• Don’t StarveAnd Griftlands developer Klei Entertainment;
• Spec OpsThe LineAnd The Cycle developer Yager;
• Sumo Group is home to Sumo Digital and the developer of Sumo Digital. Sackboy: A Big AdventureAnd Hood: Legends and Outlaws;
• Warhammer: Vermintide developer Fatshark;
• Wake Up Interactive is the parent company Ninjala developer Soleil and Devil’s Third developer Valhalla Game Studios.

Tencent made small investments this year in Bohemia Interactive (Tencent), Dontnod Entertainment and Remedy Entertainment. An analyst stated that Tencent has made smaller investments in Bohemia Interactive, Dontnod Entertainment and Remedy Entertainment. Daniel Ahmad at Niko PartnersTencent made investments in over 100 companies related to video games in 2021. Nearly a third were with non-Chinese companies. Niko Partners’ report states that Tencent has been facing increased competition from other tech firms and is looking to take advantage of big successes from smaller games studios.

Tencent’s growth in global investments also helps mitigate another problem facing the tech giant: increased scrutiny and regulation from Chinese authorities. Regulators in Tencent’s home country have cracked down on tech companies in 2021, issuing new rules about how much time minors can spend each week playing online games, like Tencent’s own mobile hit Honor of Kings.