Funcom could give Tencent a foothold in Western MMORPGs
Tencent wants the studio behind a number of Conan the Barbarian games and an upcoming Dune game, finally giving it an advantage in role playing games
Tencent is the world’s largest gaming company by revenue, but it’s mostly known as the developer or owner of competitive multiplayer games like Arena of Valor, PUBG Mobile and League of Legends. Now it could be about to buy its way into the market for massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).
The 27-year-old Norwegian gaming company Funcom recently revealed that Tencent is offering US$148 million in cash to fully acquire the studio. The offer comes less than four months after Tencent became the largest shareholder of the company with a 29% stake.
Tencent, China’s social and entertainment giant
Funcom is best known for its Conan the Barbarian games. And before developing open-world survival games like Conan Exiles, Funcom was known as a specialist in the MMORPG genre. Titles like Age of Conan, Anarchy Online and The Secret World have earned Funcom a loyal following among MMORPG fans.
Strategically, this makes Funcom a good target for Tencent. In spite of the Shenzhen-based company’s dominance in China’s gaming market, it hasn’t found much success by making its own RPGs or MMORPGs.