Internet gaming and internet mega-firm Tencent has acquired a controlling stake in Grinding Gear Games, the developer being F2P ARPG Path of Exile.
The move was announced in an Q&A on the Path of Exile forums, where Grinding Gear reassured fans it will remain an independent company following the deal. With Path of Exile 3.3 on the way, and the common suspicion many gamers have about these kinds of consolidations, there’s plenty of skepticism flying around. But it seems like Tencent know what they’re doing given that the company also owns a majority of shares in the developers behind League of Legends and Clash of Clans, and those games remain incredibly successful.
In all honesty, unless the merger somehow manages to seriously hamper content development, the only way I could see such an acquisition hurting POE is if game-affecting micro-transactions were introduced. You know, aside from the stash tabs and account features that already exist.
GGG stresses that they will have “retain full control of Path of Exile and will only make changes that we feel are best for the game”.
“We have been approached by many potential acquirers over the last five years, but always felt that they didn’t understand Path of Exile, or that they had other agendas. Tencent’s agenda is clear: to give us the resources to make Path of Exile as good as it can be.”
Another beneficial outcome of this deal is that the Chinese version of POE will now be receiving a lot more attention as GGG can expand their focus and staffing to accommodate more development and support efforts. Whatever the overall outcome of this merger turns out to be, POE fans are pretty excited across the board.
