Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent has purchased a minority stake in French developer Drama Studios.
No figure has been put on the deal, but the games firm says that this money will be put towards hiring and speeding up development on hyper-realistic first-person shooter, Unrecord. Drama Studios previously attracted $2.5 million in seed investment from The Games Fund.
Unrecord is currently No.9 in the wishlist charts over on Steam.
“Since the surge of attention after our initial trailer, we’ve worked relentlessly to build a game that meets the expectations of our community,” Drama studios CEO and founder Theo Hiribarne said.
“In Tencent, we found not just a world-class partner, but a team genuinely passionate about our game and vision. Despite its scale, Tencent has approached this partnership with humility, respect, and a real appreciation for our creative identity. It believed in Unrecord early and has supported us at every stage of our growth. We’re confident this collaboration will help us reach our full potential.”
Tencent Games Europe’s VP of partnerships, Mark Maslowicz, added: “Tencent believes deeply in creative talent. We’ve been consistently impressed by the drive and dynamism of Drama Studios, and the remarkable progress it has made on Unrecord, especially with such a small team and limited resources. This investment will help the studio unlock their full potential and deliver the first of many outstanding games. We’re excited to be part of Drama Studios journey.”
After initially investing heavily in Western game studios, in recent years the Chinese giant has been more cautious with its money. The firm has divested several prior acquisitions, including developers Splash Damage and its subsidiary, Battalion maker Bulkhead.
That’s not to say the firm isn’t prepared to spend money these days. Tencent has also recently invested €1.6 billion in Ubisoft, backing a new subsidiary at the Assassin’s Creed maker called Vantage Studios which houses all of its most lucrative IP.
A recent Bloomberg report indicated that Tencent was being “more assertive” with the companies it owns, such as Techland, Funcom and Sumo Group.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz earlier this year, Tencent Games’ VP and head of business operations, strategy and compliance said that the company might be reducing investment in “certain places” but said this just reflected industry realities.
