Tencent makes major investment in Swedish horror game startup

Business & Technology

The Shenzhen-based tech giant continues to snap up game developers around the globe with a major investment in a startup Swedish gaming company.

gtfo
A screenshot from GTFO, a game from 10 Chambers Collective.

Chinese internet giant Tencent has bought a โ€œmajor stakeโ€ in Swedish game company 10 Chambers Collective, reports Caixin. 10 Chambers Collective is best known for the game GTFO, a cooperative first-person shooter horror game.

  • GTFOย โ€œputs players in the shoes of prisoners sent deep underground to fulfill various tasks against hordes of monstrous creatures of unknown origin,โ€ according to Gamerant.
  • GTFOย has only been released in an early-access channel on the gaming platform Steam. The Tencent investment โ€œshould give 10 Chambers Collective the final push toward fully releasing GTFO.โ€

Tencent did not announce the sizeย of the investment nor the equity stake acquired. What is clear, however, is that Tencent intends to be a globally dominant game publisher.

  • Tencent purchased a minority stakeย in French video game developer Voodoo two months ago.
  • Tencent already โ€œowns League of Legendsย developer Riot Games and holds a large stake in Fortniteย maker Epic Games [and] collaborates with U.S. industry leaders like Activision Blizzard and Electronics Arts,โ€ per Caixin. ย 

What could go wrong? According to TechCrunch: โ€œSome of the biggest names in online gaming in the United States have received letters from the U.S. government requesting information about their relationship with the multibillion-dollar Chinese technology company, Tencent.โ€