Chinese media conglomerate Tencent have bought Leyou, a name which might not mean much to you but you’ll know some of their subsidiaries: Warframe developers Digital Extremes, and Dirty Bomb devs Splash Damage. Both those studios have issued statements saying hey, don’t sweat it, this will be fine.
“We will remain creatively independent, we expect no changes to Warframe or how our studio operates, and we will remain as dedicated ever to you, the community, who has been with us every step of the way since we launched Warframe,” Digital Extremes said in their statement.
“Our acquisition will allow Splash Damage to operate as an independent entity within the Tencent family, while we get to leverage their expertise to allow us to build even greater games as we move into our third decade,” Splash Damage said in theirs.
Leyou started, weirdly, as part of Chinese chicken meat company Sumpo Food Holdings, who were looking to diversify their business. In 2014 they bought a majority stake of Digital Extremes then almost all the rest in 2016, and bought Splash Damage in 2016 too. Now Tencent have snapped up Leyou, adding them to a stable of studios which includes Riot Games and Funcom, as well as stakes in Epic Games, Ubisoft, Frontier Developments, Activision Blizzard, Paradox Interactive, Grinding Gear Games, and more.
The consolidation of the games industry continues.
Disclosure: I have pals at Splash Damage. Pal? Maybe just pal now.