Tencent has announced that it has entered into a share purchase agreement with Funcom and will acquire 29% of its shares. Tencent is a leading internet company which has a very strong online games presence in the market whereas Funcom is an independent video game developer and publisher. Funcom has numerous titles under its belt such as Conan Exiles, The Secret World and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden.
With this acquisition of shares, Tencent will become the largest shareholder in Funcom. Tencent is primarily acquiring all shares belonging to the Norway-based KGJ Capital AS which is the largest shareholder in Funcom at this point. Funcom has been developing and publishing video games for more than 10 years now.
Since Tencent specializes in online games, Funcom has some pretty decent online games under its belt as well such as Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, The Secret World and their most recent release Conan Exiles. Funcom had earlier reported that 2017 and 2018 were the most profitable years in the company’s history. Funcom also recently acquired rights to DUNE IP for the next years under which it is working on a brand new open-world sandbox game set in DUNE universe as well as a feature film.
Funcom CEO Rui Casais commented:
We are very pleased to see Tencent come in as the largest shareholder of Funcom. Tencent has a reputation for being a responsible long-term investor, and for its renowned operational capabilities in online games. The insight, experience, and knowledge that Tencent will bring is of great value to us and we look forward to working closely with them as we continue to develop great games and build a successful future for Funcom.
With Tencent’s vast online presence specially in the online games, it is certainly going to boost Funcom as well. Tencent currently ranks in top numbers when it comes to online games revenue worldwide and also has shares in many other video game companies such as Riot Games, Epic, Ubisoft, Frontier, Miniclip, Paradox and Supercell.
Do you think Tencent becoming the largest shareholder of Funcom will secure the future of Funcom and will allow them to create even better games? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
