Update: Tencent has not added Bohemia Interactive to its large list of acquisitions and the Arma 3 developer remains independent.
"It's not true," head of marketing Petr Poláček told Hospodářské Noviny (opens in new tab). "Tencent didn't buy us. Bohemia Interactive remains an independent studio. We don't know where this information came from."
Bohemia Interactive has partnered up with Tencent before, when it put Ylands on the WeGame platform, and more "strategic cooperation" might occur in the future with it or other companies.
Bohemia Interactive CEO also denied the report in a separate statement.
"I just wanted to let you know that the information circulated by various major media sources about Bohemia Interactive acquired by Tencent is not true," he said. "We were talking to numerous potential partners in the past about possible strategic cooperation and we may do so in the future as well but as of now, we remain an independent studio."
Original story: Chinese media conglomerate Tencent has purchased a sizeable stake in Bohemia Interactive, according to a new report on The Information (opens in new tab). The DayZ and Arma 3 developer joins Epic Games and Supercell (known for mobile titles like Clash of Clans) among the major studios and companies Tencent owns a stake in.
According to the report, Tencent paid $260 million for the 70-80 percent stake. Based in the Czech Republic, Bohemia's last major release was Ylands (opens in new tab), though it continues to roll out updates for both Arma 3 and DayZ. In 2018, Bohemia partnered (opens in new tab)with Tencent to publish Ylands on its own WeGame platform.
According to analyst Daniel Ahmad speaking to The Information, Tencent's investment is a bid to compete with NetEase, which distributes Minecraft in China. "Tencent is filling a gap in PC sandbox games as they don’t have their own self-published titles," he said.
It's been a busy year for Tencent. The company purchased Conan Exiles studio Funcom earlier this year, invested in Spec Ops studio Yager, and more recently, took over development of System Shock 3. Tencent owns Riot Games too, which recently shipped Valorant (opens in new tab).
I've reached out to Bohemia Interactive for comment, and will update if I hear back.
