Tencent invests in UK games company Milky Tea in latest overseas move
Investment comes as WeChat owner prepares to roll out its smash-hit mobile game Honour of Kings, that has over 200 million users at home, in the US and Western Europe markets
Tencent Holdings, the Chinese internet company best known for messaging app WeChat, has invested in the Liverpool-based independent game development and animation production studio, Milky Tea, the game company said on Tuesday.
It said with their new partnership in place, it plans to further expand its team in the English city, scale up the development of HyperBrawl Tournament – one of the firm’s brand new games – as well as develop new PC and console intellectual property over the coming years.
“The scale of it really hasn’t hit home yet, but we are all really proud to be part of the Tencent family and we couldn’t ask for better partners,” said Jonathan Holmes, Milky Tea’s founder and managing director.
Tencent confirmed its investment in Milky Tea, but declined to provide details on the amount.
The Chinese gaming giant’s latest deal comes on the back of its £17.7 million (US$23.2 million) investment for a 9 per cent stake in UK video game developer Frontier Developments last week. Frontier is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange.
“The [Milky Tea] investment demonstrates our commitment to continuously bringing compelling and innovative games to the market through identifying and supporting small-scale developers who have the potential of developing high-quality games,” a Tencent spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement.
