Tencent has bought a 15.75% stake in Arrowhead Games for $80 million

Tencent has acquired about a 15.75 percent stake in the games studio behind Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Games. The technology conglomerate acquired Arrowhead Games for $80 million. Arrowhead Games co-founder John Pilestedt welcomed Tencent, saying the acquisition would open up gaming opportunities for China as a market. 

Tencent, a Chinese technology conglomerate, has bought a 15.75 percent stake in the games studio behind Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Games. The Chinese technology company acquired the stake in Arrowhead Games for a deal valued at $80 million, leaving the other stake to founders Emil Englund, Peter Lindgren, Johan Pilestedt, and Anton Stenmark. Tencent has previously acquired stakes in notable gaming firms, including partial ownership of 10 Chambers.

The Chinese technology firm also previously founded its own publishing arm called Level Infinite. Arrowheads founder John Pilestedt said the move by Tencent would help open up opportunities for the Chinese gaming market. Pilestedt also stated that gaining direct access to the Chinese gamer base was the holy grail in the current video games industry. 

Tencent establishes a new subsidiary 

Tencent has acquired a 15.75% stake in Arrowhead Game Studios

– SEK 803.25 million ($83.92 million) valuing Arrowhead at SEK 5.1 billion ($532.80 million)
– Arrowhead made a profit of SEK 729 million ($76.16 million) last year
– Arrowhead sold a stake in the company to get… pic.twitter.com/5xCckomHxs

— Jivesh (@Jivesh1995) June 6, 2025

Ubisoft announced in March a new arm, Level Infinite, dedicated to its top three IPs, Far Cry, Rainbow Six, and Assassin’s Creed. The CEO, Yves Guillemot, praised the launch of the new subsidiary, saying it was a new chapter for the firm. The publisher also revealed that Tencent held a 25 percent stake in the new arm. The publisher added that the new gaming entity was valued at around $4 billion and was dedicated to offering high-quality releases to a global audience. 

The firm stated that the new arm highlighted the strong value of Ubisoft’s IPs. The company also said that establishing the new subsidiary would help reinforce the company’s balance sheet. Ubisoft added that the new subsidiary would continue the company’s efforts to become a more agile group. The publisher stated that Level Infinite would unleash the creative potential of its development teams and better align the company’s resources with the ever-changing gamer expectations. 

Tencent revealed that Level Infinite, which is based in Singapore and Amsterdam, will be helping with projects like GTFO, Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodhunt, and more. The group also said the new subsidiary will offer studios with other support and services like production and technology. The Chinese firm added that Level Infinite will also provide international publishing and esports integrations in its studios. Tencent also revealed Level Infinite will be offering insight and analysis for the company’s games-as-a-service and gaming markets, both local and global. 

The company also revealed that the first publishing roster for the new firm would include Don’t Starve: Newhome, which is dedicated to mobile gamers, and Arena of Valor. The firm added that the new arm would also publish Synced: Off Planet for PC gamers. The Chinese technology firm also said Level Infinite would publish games from TiMi Studio Group, LightSpeed, and Quantum Studios.

Tencent expands its gaming investments

The Chinese conglomerate also acquired a majority stake in Riot, an LA-based games developer behind the RTS League of Legends. The deal was announced two years after Tencent partnered with Riot to help it distribute League of Legends in China in 2008. In September 2009, the Chinese conglomerate became an investor in the firm, alongside FirstMark Capital and Benchmark Capital, right before Riot launched the multiplayer game in the US. 

In 2020, Tencent acquired a majority stake in 10 Chambers Collective, a Swedish video game studio. The CEO of 10 Chambers Collective, the developer behind GTFO, a first-person shooter horror title, welcomed the new partial owner without disclosing the size of Tencent’s stake and the amount of money invested. 

The CEO added that the investment by Tencent would add more muscle to the studio’s plans to reach new heights in its cooperative first-person shooter horror genre. The acquisition of a majority stake in 10 Chambers Collective came two months after the Chinese technology conglomerate bought a minority stake in Voodoo, a Paris-based video game creator. The French firm revealed that Tencent’s minority stake was valued at $1.4 billion.

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