It's only the second month of 2020, but gaming giant Tencent has taken another step toward expanding its investments into game studios of all shapes and sizes. Earlier this year Tencent partnered with Platinum Games to help the studio fund its self-publishing efforts, and it also announced plans to acquire Conan Exiles developer Funcom entirely. And now, Berlin-based Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager has received an undisclosed investment from Tencent, though it will reportedly retain its independence.
As reported by GamesIndustry.biz (opens in new tab), Yager CEO Timo Ulmann said the undisclosed cash infusion will "greatly enhance the scope of our business, not just by getting access to Tencent's network and resources but by tapping the vast industry know-how Tencent possesses."
Yager currently has around 110 people in its Berlin office where it is working on The Cycle, an attempt to innovate on battle royales (opens in new tab) by mixing questing into tense multiplayer matches. I'd forgive you if you hadn't heard about The Cycle, though, since Yager has been a relatively quiet studio after releasing its gritty, breakout shooter Spec Ops: The Line in 2012: It followed that game with the multiplayer spaceship shooter Dreadnought in 2018, but laid off a significant chunk of its workforce (opens in new tab) almost immediately after.
It might seem a bit surprising, then, that Tencent has invested in Yager, but the Chinese tech giant has a steadily growing portfolio of developers and publishers including Ubisoft, Activision, Frontier Developments, and Paradox Interactive. There's still plenty more, so you should read our comprehensive breakdown of every game company Tencent has invested in (opens in new tab).
