Tencent Says It Is Steering Strategy at Techland, Funcom and Sumo

Executives describe an advisory partnership that shapes pricing, staffing, publishing through embedded support.

Overview

In a Bloomberg interview cited by GamesIndustry.biz, games chief Michelle Liu said Tencent avoids creative interference while providing guidance on finance, production and hiring.
At Techland, Tencent embedded staff and hosted pricing discussions in Shenzhen that led Dying Light: The Beast to launch at full price, according to Liu and founder Pawel Marchewka.
Funcom CEO Rui Casais said Tencent urged the studio to focus on Dune: Awakening, after which Funcom cut staff and shuttered The Outsiders in October.
Tencent encouraged Sumo Group to emphasize contract work, including assisting Digital Extremes on Warframe seasonal content that the companies say boosted sales.
Vice president Yong-yi Zhu said Tencent helps set strategic direction and dispatched tech teams to support Funcom’s backend and scaling, while a related report noted roughly $10 billion in revenue over the past year.