Last year, Tencent either invested in or purchased outright 31 game companies, and it doesn't look like the Chinese juggernaut is slowing down in 2021. Most recently, Tencent purchased Spec Ops: The Line developer Yager in June, and purchased minority stakes in Life is Strange dev Dontnod Entertainment and Lost Souls Aside dev UltiZero Games. On top of that, there were rumors earlier this year that Tencent had its eye on one of the big video game publishers like Take-Two or EA.
Crytek isn't quite EA-sized, but it's still a fairly big company in the video game industry. A new report from German reporter Julian Ropcke says that Tencent is looking to acquire Crytek for the purchase price of 300 million Euros though a European subsidiary.
German publication BILD (via Gamasutra) is sort of presenting the purchase as a potential security threat. Crytek produces military simulation software for Western militaries, and BILD believes there's potential for the Chinese government to spy on Western democracies through Crytek's software.
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"Multiple employees of Crytek, based in Frankfurt, are afraid that if their company is sold to China, their software will be used for military purposes by the PLA or China will use its ownership of the company to spy on western militaries and arms manufacturers, using CryEngine."
#Scoop
According to information, exclusively obtained by @BILD, Chinese internet company #Tencent is trying to buy German games developer #Crytek for more than 300 Million Euros via a European subsidiary.
Crytek supplies several western armies with military simulation programs. pic.twitter.com/tjtbfvNGJk— Julian Röpcke (@JulianRoepcke) July 13, 2021
Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad believes that BILD is being somewhat sensationalist and points out that Crytek has been looking for buyers for some time. It’s more likely that this Tencent purchase is all about two things: video games and money.
Crytek is the developer behind Crysis, Hunt: Showdown, The Climb, and Warface, as well as the maker of the popular CryEngine. Tencent’s potential purchase would give the Chinese game maker access to an advanced game engine that might be useful in future game development.
So far this is just a rumor and neither Cryek nor Tencent have confirmed an acquisition is being discussed. In the meantime, Crysis fans can look forward to the Crysis Remastered Trilogy later this fall.
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