Tencent Acquires Majority Stake In The Cycle Developer Yager

Tencent has scooped up yet another game developer. The Chinese developer and publisher has acquired a majority stake Yager, makers of the The Cycle and Dreadnought, a company that it previously only held a minority stake in.

Translated German news sources indicate that Yager "is to remain independent" following the transaction, with Yager studio head Timo Ullmann saying that the deal marks "a great vote of confidence for us and a confirmation of the enormous potential behind the realignment of our challenging PvPvE shooter 'The Cycle'."

Yager employs about 140 people. The Cycle is currently in early access on the Epic Games Store, with a planned launch in Q3 on Steam. Tencent also owns a 40% share of Epic.

The deal continues Tencent's aggressive acquisitions policy over the past year, which has seen the behemoth pick up controlling shares (or outright ownership) of Yager, Leyou Technologies (and Digital Extremes), Funcom, and many more. If I had to guess, I'd say we're due for at least one or two more big acquisition announcements before the end of the year.