Wuthering Waves got off to a sturdy start when it launched on PC and mobile earlier this year, but it actually feels like it’s on the cusp of truly blowing up. With fan sentiment high, and a PS5 release planned for 2nd January, the gacha could be about to massively increase its popularity as its big v2.0 update nears.
Chinese titan Tencent clearly realises that, as it’s acquired a controlling stake in maker Kuro Games. It had already invested in the studio previously, but it’s now purchased 37% of the firm’s shares from Hero Entertainment, giving it 51.4% ownership of the developer.
In an internal memo, Kuro Games’ executives insisted that Tencent will remain hands-off, and that its strategy of independent operations will remain. It added that it believes this will all lead to a more stable external environment, enabling it to focus on other areas.
We’re not particularly surprised by any of this. As we mentioned previously, Wuthering Waves does look like it’s here to stay, and we suspect it’s going to steal a number of players away from Genshin Impact next year. Its big v2.0 update is looking like it’s going to be a big moment for the gacha: a lot of the concept art that’s been released thus far looks incredible, and we’re already itching to see more.
[source youxiputao.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 36
Well that won't be good for Gatcha part the Chinese have no shame with the predatory stuff.
@Flaming_Kaiser The game is already predatory anyway with its gacha.
MiHoYo Hoyoverse has GI, HSR and ZZZ. I’d be more concerned if Tencent bought them. And I’m curious if Infinity Nikki will hit it big. You’d think at some point the gatcha games have to start maxing out their combined audience. Maybe not on mobile, so many phones, but consoles have a more limited market.
Tencent, PIF and MS will own everything some day, choose your poison. 🤷🏻♂️
Gorgeous and predatory or ugly and predatory. The two types of poisons out there.
@rjejr Hey now, don’t forget that Epic will also own a huge chunk of the market.
And if I’m forced to pick my poison, I hope it’s old age by that time! 😅
I really could care less about all this gotcha crap.
Tencent can have all the gacha garbage.
Slop for pigs.
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this, Tencent slowly gobbling up the lion's share of the industry piecemeal will not be good for any of us.
@UltimateOtaku91 Believe me there is always a next level.
@somnambulance “ Hey now, don’t forget that Epic will also own a huge chunk of the market.
And if I’m forced to pick my poison, I hope it’s old age by that time! 😅 “
Tencent already owns Epic though. 😂
“ Epic Games
Tencent made a strategic investment in Epic Games (the developer of Fortnite) in 2012. It holds an estimated 40% stake in the gaming company, which also counts Sony (SONY 1.47%), Disney (DIS -0.11%), and Lego Company owner Kirkbi A/S among its minority shareholders.
Tencent's investment helped Epic fund its growth. In addition to producing popular games, Epic developed the Unreal Engine, a leading game engine technology used by many gaming studios worldwide, including Tencent.”
https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/stocks/what-does-tencent-own/#:~:text=Tencent%20made%20a%20strategic%20investment,helped%20Epic%20fund%20its%20growth.
@rjejr Oh jeez, I forgot about that. 40% is an insane amount of shares. That’s gross.
I hope Sony and Nintendo can hold out. Not a fan of this industry consolidation.
@somnambulance Nintendo's cash reserves are too big for them to be bought out. They have zero debt.
Sony are a bit more likely to look at an offer but only if someone offers to pay their very large debt. Also, I think Sony's interests are too diverse with electronics, cameras, audio, gaming and movies. Not a lot of companies have such an eclectic group of businesses.
@somnambulance “ I hope Sony and Nintendo can hold out. Not a fan of this industry consolidation. “
That’s funny. In my original post I had started typing that Sony and Nintendo would need to merge some day to survive but I stopped b/c I figured it wouldn’t end well for me. 😁
Welp, might be time to drop this game. I want nothing to do with Tencent.
@rjejr I’d take a Sony/Nintendo merger over MS or Tencent buying them. Honestly, as long as Nintendo is in the business, I think there will probably be some avenue for me as a gamer. I’m primarily on PS, but I don’t see Nintendo ever scrapping their quality first party games.
@somnambulance Sony is on the protected companies list in Japan, it can't be bought by foreign companies. I'd imagine the Japanese government would probably add Nintendo if they needed to as well.
@somnambulance Nintendo already existed since 1889 and Sony since 1949 and today both company are still stand strong against the competition from foreign companies. So i think they will be just fine.
But the theory both of them needs to merger to survive is silly as fvck lmao
That won’t have come cheap, I suspect we’ll see the closure of some other studios owned by Tencent soon. They’ve done similar before, and I’m sure it’s a pattern they and other similar conglomerates will adopt.
@Jrs1 And yet you clicked on the article and commented about it
@Jrs1 that means you care. Do you mean you couldn't care less?
the comments about sony or nintendo being bought out is just absurd..
People love throwing around words like “predatory” but I suspect they haven’t even played it. When did we start having such strong opinions on things we know so little about?
As someone who HAS played the game I have not spent a penny and have every signature character except one (zhezhi), you can play the whole game without spending anything, you don’t need every character or every weapon. Yes there are problems with time gating / slow progression but this is no more “predatory” that many other multiplayer games with MTX: GTA6, Fortnite, Helldivers 2, etc. which do not offer so much for free, or are paid releases with MTX as well. Would you tar them ALL with the same brush? There are FAR worse examples that this game.
Ooo that's a lot of money 💰
Without Tencent, Wukong would just be a black myth.
@themightyant They just might not know a hidden gem among gacha games, in our experience.
Incessant yappings is the only reason Sammy, me and many others don't show ourselves around here. 🍿
For them, this is their end-game content, if you catch my drift~ 👋
Chinese gacha game studio bought by Chinese gacha corpo.
All shrugs from me tbh.
So Tencent is on the face of it like any other commercial company. Like Embracer, they have been quietly hoovering up a lot of gaming / social media companies, or getting a foothold ready to increase their shareholding.
Unlike Embracer, Tencent is developing a vertical approach from social media/financing/web-stores/game-engines/games/cloud infrastructure. The near majority stake in Epic Games is a good example - given how ubiquitous UE5 is becoming. Here's just a few examples of it's reach:
Studios
Riot Games - 100%
Funcom (Conan Exiles) - 100%
Super-Cell (Clash of Clans etc) - 84%
Grinding Gear (Path of Exile) - 80%
Larian - 30%
From Software - 16%
Remedy - 14%
Krafton (PUBG) - 14%
Kakao (notable for it apparently wanting to buy out Kadokawa/From-Soft) - 13.5%
Ubisoft - 11% / Guillmot Brothers - nearly 50% (which controls 20% of Ubisoft)
Frontier Developments - 9%
Activision Blizzard - 5%
Fatshark (Warhammer) - undisclosed majority stake
Platinum Games - undisclosed
A crap tonne others (it's a technical term)
Gaming Back-End / Tech
WeChat - 100%
QQ - 100%
Epic Games - 40%
(note - Unity is now has significant Chinese investment - but not Tencent directly)
Fab - the Epic/Unity asset market-place (which Tencent heavily invested in prior)
Snap - 12%
Discord - undisclosed; possibly majority stake
And a huge investment in cloud technology....
This isn't just a worrying sign (for all the obvious reasons), but at its core is about massively consolidated business sectors. Microsoft, Amazon, Google have been doing it for years - and now we've got the next big playa...but extra strings attached. Whichever company - we need to stop with the consolidation before we end up with 2-3 companies making ALL the video games.
I think every chinese gaming company have to have tencent (ccp) money in it.
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare I can see how it can be seen as a concern.
However at the same time I am thankful for a company putting so much investment into gaming at a time when so many are tightening their purse strings. Without companies like Tencent how many more studios would have closed? I'd also far rather that studios go to a currently platformless company like Tencent than be absorbed by Microsoft or Sony who are more likely to make the games exclusive. That's not good for gamers.
I guess my point is I don't see it as all bad, there's some positives too, even if there are concerns.
@themightyant I think that would be true, if it weren't for those other concerns. There is a reason why Tencent are doing what they're doing - as it is giving them advantages in terms of future market opportunities for possible acquisition (as well as market insight). Tencent is far from an altruistic company; especially given its focus on MTX style revenue sources.
The real worry I have is the power they will eventually hold through EpicGames/Unreal Engine. That's the real monopoly that worries me.
@themightyant I must admit I find the use of the word "predatory" amusing and it's the usual suspects that throw it around. What I find amusing about it is that the people using it are almost "predatory" themselves when searching out these articles..oh the irony is delicious..
@Oz_Who_Dat_Dare Almost no company is altruistic, Sony and Microsoft certainly aren't, they are all self serving. Tencent is no different.
They support many different games and business models from buy once like Black Myth Wukong, to F2P like this game, and others in between. Depending which demographic you ask some prefer one or another, none is right or wrong. Personally I support a range of business models because there are games like this and Genshin that simply couldn't be made on a typical pay once business model. Choice is good and a range of games is good.
Obviously this here is a PlayStation focused site where virtually everyone commenting:
OUR general demographics here might prefer buy once, we are conditioned to do that on console, you aren't likely to get a representative range of opinions here. But ask a teenager or someone from Asia and many might prefer F2P. It isn't one size fits all, or right/wrong, there is room enough for many options.
But I understand your concerns. Mine would be if they decided to suddenly pull all their content from other platforms to push their own launcher / console / ecosystem. They certainly have enough studios. But that would MASSIVELY impact their profitability in the short term, they seem happy just making money on everything for now and putting a lot of it back into the ecosystem, i'm happy enough with that deal for now.
@themightyant I wouldn't worry about them stripping content for another platform - other than if that was a streaming-based platform. I could believe that might be a real possibility.
@themightyant Tencent will barge in and make everything worse. Just wait for it.
Tencent buying companies (left and right) it isn't good at all and it won't end well in the long run. Especially foreign companies.... Anyone thinking otherwise, it is just delusional.
I don't care if Tencent says it "won't interfere" on how X company operates, because we know that is BS.
@UltimateOtaku91 The shocking part there is less and less shame when they see money. 😞
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