Tencent now owns majority stake in Spec Ops: The Line studio Yager
The Cycle continues.
Chinese conglomerate Tencent now holds a majority stake in Yager, the Berlin-based developer behind cult favourite 2012 shooter Spec Ops: The Line.
Tencent first acquired a small stake in the company back in February 2020. At the time, Yager said it would put the funds towards its free-to-play multiplayer game The Cycle, and then unnamed future projects.
Today's news was revealed in an interview with Yager boss Timo Ullmann by German site gameswirtschaft.de, and picked up by Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad. In it, Ullmann says the move comes ahead of a relaunch for The Cycle based on early access feedback.
There's also mention of a future, unannounced game which is taking more time to complete than originally expected, and that Tencent's investment will ensure long-term job security at Yager.
Tencent's ownership and investment in the video games industry has grown rapidly over the past few years, with investment in Ubisoft, Epic Games, Remedy, Sumo, Marvelous, Dontnod, Klei, Platinum, Bohemia Interactive, Roblox and Krafton, plus ownership of Funcom, Sharkmob and Riot Games.
Then there's Tencent's own enormous Timi Studios, the developer behind smartphone titans Call of Duty Mobile and Honor of Kings, as well as the upcoming Pokémon Unite.