Tencent (HKG:0700), the Chinese giant who has been continuously investing in the games industry, has officially made an offer to fully acquire Norwegian game developer Funcom.
Tencent already owns almost 29% of Funcom's shares and is now making a voluntary cash offer to acquire all of the remaining shares directly from the shareholders. The offer is said to be 17.00 NOK (Norwegian Crowns) per share, 27.3% higher than the closing price for Funcom shares as of yesterday. As such, the studio's board is recommending all shareholders to accept the offer, which amounts to around $148 million in total.
CEO Rui Casais said in a statement:
We have had a great relationship with Tencent as our largest shareholder so far and we are excited about this opportunity. We will continue to develop great games that people all over the world will play, and we believe that the support of Tencent will take Funcom to the next level. Tencent will provide Funcom with operational leverage and insights from its vast knowledge as the leading company in the game space.
Steven Ma, Senior Vice President of Tencent, commented:
We are impressed by Funcom’s strengths as a developer of open-world multiplayer, action and survival games. Funcom has a strong track-record in developing new titles with long life span. We are glad to deepen our relationship with Funcom and look forward to collaborating with Funcom to deliver more exciting and enjoyable game experiences to fans worldwide.
Additionally, Funcom has decided to increase the scope of the upcoming Dune open world multiplayer game, as resources will be allocated to it from other initiatives and additional financing might be secured, too.
A separate press release reveals that Dune will be an open world survival game in the vein of Conan Exiles, as that game turned out to be a big success for the studio, although the goal is to make Dune more ambitious in scope.
As a result, the previously announced co-op shooter is being delayed beyond 2020, with all focus going on this Dune survival game for the time being.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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