Chinese conglomerate Tencent has invested €30,000,000 ($36,250,000) in Life is Strange developer Dontnod Entertainment to assist in its continued growth and push into self-publishing.
The two companies have also entered into a business cooperation agreement, the details of which have not been made public. However, the scale of the investment does give Tencent the opportunity to appoint a representative to Dontnod’s board of directors. The investment is part of a larger capital increase issued by Dontnod, which is expected to attract a total of €40,000,000.
Prior to the Tencent investment, Dontnod’s first foray into self-publishing was last year’s Twin Mirror, though the studio partnered with Bandai Namco for the game’s console distribution. Around the same time, Dontnod CEO Oskar Guilbert told GamesIndustry.biz that the change in strategy stemmed from rejections based on the often diverse nature of its protagonists.
At that time, the studio had plans to self-publish four games that were already in the pipeline, alongside two others, one with the support of Vampyr publisher Focus Home Interactive and one with an unnamed major publisher.
Meanwhile, Tencent has been investing heavily in video games in recent years. The company has full ownership of Riot Games, Funcom, Digital Extremes, and Splash Damage, as well as various stakes and investments in Epic Games, Ubisoft, PlatinumGames, and several other studios.
