Tencent’s new game investment strategy: smaller and earlier

Tencent is one of the biggest gaming companies in the world. It got to the point where it owns significant chunks of companies like Fortnite developer Epic, League of Legends studio Riot, and French publisher Ubisoft by bringing new types of games to its domestic Chinese audience. Over the last decade, the company has used its substantial bank account to focus on making big investments with well-established game developers. Now the megaconglomerate is expanding that strategy to include younger companies for smaller amounts of money, North American business development boss Randy Lee explained in a conversation on stage at the GamesBeat Summit in Mill Valley, California today.

“We engage with the market, we learn, and then we change,” said Lee. “A couple of years ago, our deals were the big ones that you’ve heard of. But over the last 12 months, we’ve started doing smaller investments — around $3 million — at an earlier stage.”