Tencent has done a surprise acquisition of the parent company of Turtle Rock Studios, Slamfire. As per the statement by Tencent, Turtle Rock studios will be continuing to be working as an independent studio and no changes will be made to the upper management. Turtle Rock Studios, formerly known as Valve South, is the development team that worked on some of the older Counter-Strike games and the Left 4 Dead series.
Turtle Rock noted that despite the acquisition, the studio will continue to be run by co-founders Phil Robb and Chris Ashton. Developers DayZ and Arma 3, along with Epic Games and Supercell (known for mobile games such as Clash of Clans), became the main studios and companies in which Tencent holds shares. Tencent said that their acquisition will not affect Back 4 Bloods’ current post-release support and it will remain unchanged, because the game is released under the Warner Bros. Games banner, and Tencent has not obtained the intellectual property rights.
However, Tencent Games’ global chief strategy officer Eddie Chan may have shed some light on the studio’s future plans. They are currently working on Age of Empires IV, which will be released by Xbox Game Studios for Xbox and PC. WB Games New York, a support studio that supports the company’s large projects. Earlier this year, Tencent bought Funcom studio and invested in Yager Spec Ops studio, and their most recent move is taking over the development of System Shock 3.
Tencent even acquired controlling stakes in Yager, Stunlock Studios, and Klei Entertainment. In recent years, Microsoft has focused on the growth of Xbox Game Studios. They were the main developers of Zoo Tycoon and Disneyland Adventures, both Microsoft games.
Microsoft loves to acquire promising AAA studios and provide funding for AAA projects. We think this is a fantastic way to get to know the game and show the Santa Monica Studios masterpiece to more players. The studio said some of the developers at Digital Extremes will also be participating in the game to chat. Whether Microsoft acquires the studio or builds its own, we can expect Microsoft to expand its presence in Japan to launch the next-generation Xbox. They most recently worked on Tell Me Why, a game similar to Life is Strange, which is being released by Xbox Game Studios for Xbox and PC. As for Tencent, we’ll be sure to cover every bit of information that comes out about the latest acquisition.
