Hi-Rez teams up with China's Tencent to publish battle game Smite

Hi-Rez Studios, the maker of a promising free-to-play online battle game called Smite, has announced a publishing deal with China’s giant online entertainment company Tencent.

Tencent has struck a worldwide publishing cooperation agreement with Hi-Rez Studios on Smite, a multiplayer online battle game (MOBA) that is still in beta testing but has already drawn more than 2 million registered players to date. Tencent is the majority owner of Riot Games, the creator of the wildly popular League of Legends MOBA. Thanks to investments in Riot Games and Epic Games, Tencent counts itself a player on the world stage and the fourth-largest gaming company in the world.