Tencent announced today that it has agreed to acquire 29% of Funcom‘s shares, making it the largest shareholder in the independent game developer and publisher.
Funcom has been behind games like Conan Exiles and Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. The Norway-based company started in 1983. The studio has a pedigree in multiplayer online role-playing games, having made 2001’s Anarchy Online and 2012’s The Secret World. Funcom also developed the adventure game The Longest Journey and its sequels.
Tencent is the largest gaming company in the world. The Chinese media conglomerate is a majority owner in League of Legends developer Riot Games and a minority owner of Fortnite studio Epic Games. Tencent also announced in July that it was partnering with The Pokémon Company. In May, Tencent acquired Swedish game studio Sharkmob.
“We are very pleased to see Tencent come in as the largest shareholder of Funcom,” said Funcom chief executive officer Rui Casais in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “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.”
Funcom is now working on a sandbox game set in the Dune universe. It has the rights to that license for six years, which will overlap with the December 2020 release of a new Dune movie.