It’s official: Tencent is buying Techland.
Techland’s CEO Paweł Marchewka broke the news in an official blog post, emphasizing that the alliance will help the studio realize its ambitious plans for both existing and upcoming games.
Founded in 1991 by Marchewka, Techland first gained acclaim with the first-person shooter series Call of Juarez. However, it was the release of the open-world zombie game Dead Island and its sequel, Dead Island: Riptide, in 2013 that propelled the studio into mainstream gaming. After parting ways with publisher Deep Silver over creative differences, Techland launched Dying Light, the spiritual successor to Dead Island. The second installment, Dying Light 2: Stay Human, is their most recent release.
The acquisition by Tencent adds another feather to the Chinese titan’s cap, who owns stakes in notable gaming companies like Riot Games, Epic Games, FromSoftware, and Supercell. This move cements Tencent’s status as the largest video game company globally by revenue.
Despite the increased scrutiny on its mergers and acquisitions activity in the past few years, Tencent’s ambition to bolster its global gaming portfolio remains undeterred.
Under the partnership, Marchewka will continue to serve as Techland’s CEO, ensuring the studio’s commitment to creating innovative gaming experiences. He stressed that Techland would retain full ownership of its intellectual properties and that it will continue to maintain its creative freedom, reflecting Tencent’s respect for their partners’ individual working styles.
“We have chosen an ally who has already partnered with some of the world’s finest video game companies and helped them reach new heights while respecting their ways of doing things,” Marchewka stated. He also acknowledged the need for like-minded friends and strong partners with the same vision, passion, and willingness to back it up with their own knowledge, experience, and capabilities.
We dream of turning Dying Light into the ultimate zombie game experience for players worldwide, providing you with multiple astonishing adventures and pushing the boundaries of solo and online modes to a totally new level,” Marchewka explained. The partnership aims to shape their new open-world action-RPG in a fantasy setting into something truly special, intending to surpass expectations for their first new IP in nearly a decade.
Despite Tencent becoming a majority shareholder, Marchewka reassured that Techland would continue to operate the way they believe is right. He expressed gratitude to their community of players, crediting them as an “endless source of inspiration and positive energy that keeps us moving forward.”
This partnership is expected to provide Techland with the much-needed financial support, particularly as it embarks on the development of a new, unnamed open-world fantasy action-RPG. Tencent’s investment is likely to prove beneficial, given Techland’s history with Dying Light 2’s extended development timeline.
With the gaming industry continuously evolving and consolidating, Tencent’s investment in Techland presents an intriguing model of how creative autonomy and global expansion can coexist.
As Techland gears up to transform the Dying Light franchise and introduce its new action RPG, gamers worldwide can only anticipate the exciting possibilities this East-West partnership will bring to the gaming world.
