Tencent invests 30 million euros into DONTNOD, funding self-publishing

Chinese tech giant Tencent has made another investment in the game industry, this time into French indie developer DONTNOD entertainment. 

The two have entered into a “business cooperation agreement,” and Tencent has acquired a minority stake in DONTNOD for €30 million. The investment will form an “accelerated book-building process” worth €40 million, meaning new shares will be available for trading next month on the Euronext Growth market in Paris. It will also fund DONTNOD’s self-publishing endeavors.

“We are delighted to welcome Tencent as a DONTNOD investor,” Oskar Guilbert, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DONTNOD, said in a press release. “This is a real expression of trust from a key online game leader, which is behind a number of success stories and has invested in several leading companies in the video game industry.” 

“Through this partnership, DONTNOD is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the various growth drivers in the video game industry, in particular in China and on mobile platforms, in cooperation with an industry leader. The capital increase announced today will enable us to step up and boost the roll-out of our development plan, which aims to capture more value from our original creations by self-publishing more games.”

Nothing is expected to change significantly at DONTNOD, as Tencent has historically been mostly hands-off with most of its investments. Those investments include stakes in Riot Games, Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Paradox Interactive, Netmarble, Funcom, Fanbyte and more within the game industry alone. However, with this investment, Tencent does have the right to suggest a representative for DONTNOD’s Board of Directors.

Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst for Niko Partners, said on Twitter the investment would likely mean Tencent will help DONTNOD enter the Chinese games market.