UPD: Bohemia Interactive announced that Tencent hadn’t acquired a majority stake in the studio. The news of the investment was originally reported by The Information.
As head of marketing Petr Poláček told Hospodářské Noviny, Bohemia interactive remains an independent studio. The company did admit, though, that it was in talks with various potential partners regarding strategic cooperation and might resume these negotiations in the future.
The original story:
Tencent has purchased a stake of between 70% and 80% in Bohemia Interactive for around $260 million. This is reported by The Information, which cites its own sources.
This is the latest deal in a series of investments the Chinese giant has made in various companies outside of China. These include Yager Development, Sumo Digital, Activision Blizzard, Riot Games, Supercell, Epic Games, Funcom, Fatshark, Ubisoft. As regulations in China continue to tighten for video games, Tencent is looking to diversify its overseas gaming business.
Tencent already collaborated with Bohemia two years ago, when it became the distributor of the studio’s title Ylands in China. In addition to Ylands, Bohemia is currently working on its two flagship projects DayZ and Arma 3.