Tell Me Why

The Chinese video game giant Tencent has acquired a "minority stake" in the French studio Dontnod Entertainment.

This is the same developer responsible for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows exclusive, Tell Me Why - which was published by Xbox Game Studios last year. It's also perhaps more widely known outside of this realm for its other episodic series Life is Strange as well as Vampyr.

Tencent's minority stake, valued at €30 million ($36.3 million), is to help the French studio "realize its self-publishing ambitions" - which will require €40 million ($48.5 million) in funding all up.

As Tencent is now an investor, it means the Chinese company will be able to fill a seat on Dontnod's board of directors. Here's what Dontnod's CEO and chairman, Oskar Guilbert, had to say about it:

"This is a real expression of trust from a key online game leader, which is behind a number of success stories and has invested in several leading companies in the video game industry."

"Through this partnership, Dontnod is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the various growth drivers in the video game industry, in particular in China and on mobile platforms, in cooperation with an industry leader. The capital increase announced today will enable us to step up and boost the roll-out of our development plan, which aims to capture more value from our original creations by self-publishing more games."

Just last week, it was announced Tencent would be acquiring a majority stake in the Don't Starve developer, Klei Entertainment.

A report from Niko Partners recently revealed Tencent invested in 31 deals related to the video game industry last year - a new record for the company. It included a "mix of acquisitions, mergers, minor and major stakes, and funding rounds".

[source gamesindustry.biz]