Knew this was going to be about Tencent from the video title, but didn't know much about their background / origins and how far their reach has spread in the industry. I've started seeing their logo pop up on movies now as well (though I can't remember the last time it happened off the top of my head). Great video Kira, thanks! Edit: the thumbnail has changed since I posted this comment, there was originally no mention of Tencent!
I don't know how anyone can label Tencent "unknown". Anyone with a friend or relative who's even tangentially related to the pan-Asian cultures would at least know the juggernaut that is WeChat, and the company behind it. Also Tencent's been buying companies for ages, it's hard not to notice it. You have to be living under a rock to really not know it.
In addition: they not only own video games but also Hollywood. Tencents Hollywood devision (tencent pictures) owns stakes in any major Hollywood production. With a few notable examples of: Kong skull island; wonder woman; venom and many more.
You cant operate any company in China without agreeing to give unrestricted access to your data, your customers data and anything else the CCP wants access to. So ANY Chinese company, especially that big, will at least have one government representative in the company, whos job it is to make sure the company is reporting everything they know to the CCP. This includes any data collected abroad, no matter if its "stored abroad", copies of it are sent back to mainland China. The CCP dosent need a "court order", they just need to ask for the data. This is a good thing to be aware of.
Being fair, USA does the same thing. And if KGB super chad Vladimir isn't dipping his fingers into the Russian "hacker" pie, I don't know what he does. It is what it is. We're asset to one of the Hegemonial Powers. In the past I'd have been upset by China, but seeing our current WEF funded ruling caste over here I'm not. We're perfectly capable of ruining our own stuff, no foreign interference needed.
Excellent video. I've been avoiding Tencent staked games for years and years but it's getting nearly impossible nowadays since they are starting to have stakes in almost every publisher.
Me: These kind of comments really have to stop. Because it's cringe, massivly stupid and people use it because they have no imagination to think of something original to write. Every single comment is the same
@@komshobu2 Complaining in YT comments is a good way to let people know you have something original and imaginative to write. It's also MASSIVELY smart & not cringe!
Tencent's growing position is going to lead to a lot of horrible problems in the future. The average users who are aware and rightfully concerned over this are powerless to do anything about it, and eventually the companies who sold themselves out to Tencent will be put in just as powerless a situation. This isn't good.
I'm glad you briefly brought up Saudi Arabia at the end. While Tencent has seemingly been relatively hands off, the royal family... has not. And they now seem keen on getting in on buying or investing largely on game publishers as well.
The Blitzchung incident is the straw that broke the camel's back for me with Activision/Blizzard's games and made me uninstall WoW and never log back in. Now fast forward to today and they had or are currently in a lot of trouble for various employee mistreatments like sexual harrassment, STEALING FUCKING BREASTMILK from a nursing employee, and general crunch conditions! Also, look at how heavy the state of microtransactions are in their games (Hi, Diablo Immortal and Overwatch 2.)
@@darkcloud9053 Do you think athletes also have no right to bring social issues into sports? Also, China literally went back on everything they agreed to when they reacquired Hong Kong. Not sure why you would support a China in this.
You're better off than an American company owning your data. Like if you use Facebook, instagram, twitter, etc your data is being pulled by the NSA. And if history shows us anything America has done wayyyy more heinous shit on a clandestine level than any other country can shake a stick at.
They own a miniscule percent, so they can't get their hands on your logs. But you'd be naive to think they can't get your data as long as you don't touch their products. If you communicate with anyone that uses their product, you're probably logged and fingerprinted. And that's basically just about everyone. It sucks, but this is where we are these days.
@@zxbc1Exactly, don't be surprised if Google has logs of all your comments and the IPs you're using here for youtube. Not to go full tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist, but if you want to protect your privacy the only real solution is to get off the grid and stop using technology. Otherwise everything should be treated with caution at the minimum and realize all your actions may or could have already been tracked and logged online.
@@powertrip6426 I've said some pretty fucked up shit in chats and never been raided by the Feds (yet.) Looking at how the CCP dealt with the White Paper protests for instance (many more examples), though, I just have to flat-out disagree with your stance.
@@zxbc1 USA has backdoors into the entirety of your Windows operating system and Apple, too. This is all really just a digital extension of Hegemonial Power flexing game now.
I was so upset when they got their fingers in the Norwegian game company Funcom. This should be a huge red flag for everyone, because they're not only doing this with gaming companies. Chinese companies are reaching their fingers into many levels of many countries and companies.
@@zxbc1 Which is why we have regulations to prevent companies from getting too much power. Unfortunately the US barely bothers with said regulations anymore and Tencent is from a dictatorship, which lets crap like this happen.
So are oil rich countries. Many people there have no idea what to do with their money so they buy tons of everything everywhere. The dumbest thing is there aren't any plans to stop them from buying xyz unlike when microsoft was buying acblizzard for fears of monopoly because they're based in china. Can't sue people for copyright infringement as a foreigner in china because they laugh at you and keep doing it.
@@zxbc1Of course but what other alternative do you want? Communism? Socialism? The only government that was truly worked for the people to be free is capitalism with a mix of socialism. When you develop a ideology that has zero drawbacks please come back to this comment section and tell me so I can be the first on board but until then, you should try to complain to the government rather than the void.
Chinese economy is so tied to our western ones, That they don't even need to start a war to hurt us financially really hard. They already have more control than you think
@@deathmusa They're absolutely a benign tumor for now. They aren't the ones pushing any of the shitty business practices in the industry, they're just the owners. The moment they start handing down decisions mandating their subsidiaries follow that force bad practices on people, is when they become a cancer.
Tencent feel like one of those companies that just seem perfectly cool right up until they decide to activate a trap card. Which they could easily do at any time, no matter what game it is. Path of Exile looks pretty good right now, because not being Diablo 4 is a legit selling point. They know how marketing works.
@@MorbidEel absolutely, but right now it's seeing huge growth purely due to disenfranchised D4 streamers promoting it as an alternative. Plus Tencent only have a 5% stake in Activision but completely own Grinding Gear Games, if internet sources are correct.
Brother… there is real Genocide going on in China, yk Tencent is directly controlled by the CCP yet you are talking about a trap card 💀💀💀 That company is worse than Nestlé could ever dream off.
@@greenhowie they own about 80% and iirc Chris Wilson said on a podcast the agreement was they continue to run their company as they will but TenC will run a version for the Chinese market and GGG would develop features for the Chinese client. afaik GGG reinvested most of the money back into the company to develop PoE 2. who knows if that'll ever change. if the founders left I might start to worry.
i remember feeling a part of my soul dying when i heard the news about tencents investment into from software Edit: I'm not talking about me dredding some change in gameplay, but rather that From Software is now another avenue for Tencent to try and creep data off of me from.
If it’s any consolation, Tencent has the reputation of being the least meddling holding company in the gaming industry. They basically forget about you as long as you’re making them money.
Tencent isn’t really unknown nowadays. Many gamers are aware of it, as it has been featured in other videos and news articles. Its participation in Epic Games in which it could potentially censor games sold on a platform used by the west on behalf of the CCP has always been troubling.
It's completely unknown to the mainstream, and that's the group that actually makes a difference. Us very few who are informed with the industry are the only ones who know of Tencent. But Sharol down the street and her 9yo son Sam, neither who know what "meta" means and both who buy Mario and Just Dance because it's good family fun have no clue what Tencent is. And people like Sharol and Sam make up ~80% of the gaming population.
It's a shame that a lot of people I talk to don't care about companies like Tencent, which are under the CPP, knowing everything that they do because they use things they own
Thats the most scary part. You explain them whats going on, how sinister all these actions are, whats in play and the entire corrupt background, the dangers... and their reply is ' "and? who cares?"' ... hopeless, disappointing, stupid f-ing people man....
Tencent is by far the biggest games company in the world - they are also pushing into crypto gaming and are turning up at many crypto events across the world. Great work
I still don't really get it, exactly what does that do to the games that company puts out? Why are you upset that tencent acquired this company? Did they start making the game worse and worse? Did they add a bunch of pay walls? I'm not trying to defend tencent just genuinely confused.
@@artoras6098Technically it doesn't change anything for the teams themselves. But Tencent has the right and ability to reorganize, control, oversee or otherwise influence the development if they see fit. That also includes dissolving a company if they are deemed not profitable enough. Being bought by Tencent basically comes with a looming threat over your head.
@@Mediados How do you know that exactly? Are the details of the contracts, terms and deals publicly available somewhere? Tencent has some kind of relationship with so many different game studios which ones has which of these "threats" you're talking about? Also are these situations hostile and one-sided as in a buyout of some sort where the studios have no say in the matter of tencent's involvement? Or are these deals that both parties have to consensually sign off on? If it's the latter, is there some kind of backing out or broken promises on tencent's part to these mutually agreed upon deals?
@@markoliimatainen2565 really ? Because I play quite some games (well mobile games) whose studios were acquired by Chinese companies and let me tell you, they censored a lotta thing, some even censored "Taiwan" in their chat lmao.
@@markoliimatainen2565 Blatantly false. China censors SO much more then the west does, it's insane. Look no further then the rebranding of PUBG into "Game of Peace".
Am a game dev who's had a lot of behind the scenes insight into how acquisitions have gone in the industry. While I have little insight into their dealings in China itself, the irony is despite the bad feeling and paranoia the gaming community have about Tencent they are generally seen and widely regarded in the west from a developer perspective as the most hands off overlords when it comes to acquiring or investing in studios and not interfering with the games. From what I've heard they generally invest and just want to take a slice of the profits, and are pretty hands off at leaving companies to run their games how they wish. It's kinda a shame that their connection to China and very understandable paranoia about the Chinese government means that what are ultimately one of the more benign companies to buy or invest when it comes to how those games will be affected or monetized is often the most negatively received, compared to western publishers who would be far more inclined to interfere with the games and IPs they acquire, aggressively monetize, shut down studios and so on, to the detriment of the consumers. Not had any personal dealings with them, I'll admit I bought into the narrative and was very surprised to hear this myself, but this is something I've heard time and time again over the years, and it's weird how completely at odds it is with the consumer side perception of any studio being involved with them. Not even arguing with anyone who doesn't want to support them, and obviously this is all ultimately hearsay of what I've heard, but heard quite a lot. Just feel its an interesting perspective to share that gamers themselves may not have heard.
While I do see what your saying/ suggesting about tencent being chill, and super hands off. If suddenly the company who owns 100%, 50%, or some percent of your company threatens to pull out unless you do some crazy request, thats a LOT of pressure I feel like. Its almost like a trap card.
@@joehelp5832 It feels like a trap because it is a trap. ALWAYS trust your gut when it comes to these things. My issue is how do I do whatever I need to in order to make sure I'm not supporting them or any company they own in any way? That's the important bit.
@@joehelp5832sure - but that holds true for any company acquiring another. Just saying I've never heard a single horror story of this happening, when I've heard plenty about other companies. This is all hearsay I grant you, as I say not had any personal dealings and this is just what I've heard, but heard repeatedly. Just been struck by the dissonance between developer side perspective compared to consumer perspective on the Tencent = bad thing and thought it an interesting perspective to share.
I was thinking Tencent from the title, but then I thought: "no, Kira wouldn't clickbait us like that and use the word unknown for one of the best known villains in gaming."
I appreciate you putting this video together Kira. I hope UA-cam don't give you any trouble for it. We've been so concerned with Western companies and their control of our data, and rightly so, that many are ignoring the Chinese companies. There are many ways these companies can be a concern due to who they are beholden to, but I feel their ingratiation in to Western culture is a big concern as this is subtle and goes along the lines of winning hearts and minds. Just look at how many people use TikTok without any regard to who controls the app. Not much point in getting too worked up about it, but it's important to push awareness.
Just to piggyback off your comment. Yes we should be worried our data is being shared, stored and sold without consent. It is worrying and we should keep pushing the boundaries for what is acceptable for big business to do with our data. Freedom of speech is important and we don’t want to go back to WW2 like conditions again or even DDR / stasi like conditions. Even the CCP is worrying to look at from a western perspective where we have a free democracy. I also think that’s why people downplay it, because China won’t have a massive impact on western society and politics without inserting Chinese leaders into the west etc. Technology is a wonderful thing but we also have to remember technology is made from a business standpoint and we don’t own anything we put on the internet. It’s not a part of us. It’s made up of bits and pixels, and someone owns the platforms we use and they have large tos written down. We should be more careful of what we put out there. Although it’s nice we live in a world where we can talk to someone across the world within miliseconds. But then again. It’s a service and we don’t own the data in any way. What is free is never free so to say. That’s why you have encrypted apps that aren’t watched by any governments so to say. Although they probably have back doors every where if necessary. Rant over lol. Just how I view the internet with my tinfoil hat on. Great video by Kira and it’s scary to see how tencent is taking over the gaming scene.
I'll be honest, if foreign statesmen 10.000 km across the globe know my name and what I play, I don't care much. If the people here know all my stuff, that's definitely more acutely impacting me. Or not. Depending on how they use that data of course.
Good video though just to let you know Tencent didn't have their shares in From Soft when Elden Ring released. Armored Core 6 is the only game that could've had Tencent influence in it.
They only got 16% though, and it was at the same time Sony got about 14%. The company is still 66% owned by Kadokawa, so I don't think Tencent can have any influence with an investment that small. Still, it would be better for the games industry as a whole if Tencent and other similar-sized companies just died.
Think it’s a shame Tencent couldn’t help out with KOE’s fog of war then Caspian might have gotten passed that hurdle and then there may actually be a game more interactive than minesweeper on windows 95. Been following your content for ages, always great stuff mate.
they're literally trying to own everything, its not just gaming and doing a pretty good job at it, china is going for the classic civilizations economic win where hardly anyone even realises you are about to win the game
You're assuming that everyone is sticking to the rules and it's a fair game or something. 1. If Western Hegemony is tired of the Eastern Hegemony, they can just straight up pull the plug whenever. See what they did to Huawei, a pretty legit company. 2. It's not like every piece of technological equipment hasn't been backdoored at least two to three times. Uncle Sam has his fingers in as many pies as the Kenshin Impact Weeb Brigade. And Russia is also pretty far ahead when it comes to internet tracking.
2 social media and 1 patreon link, but not for example, the wiki entry on chinese financially motivated censorship in the west you showed at around 11:20? the reporting you do is great but it needs more info in the video description i feel like! it's a serious topic
I see so many people talk about Tencent and the companies they own, but not a single one of them ever points out that Tencent itself is actually owned by South African company Naspers, so well done
I wouldnt call it the main problem, but it SHOULD be an easy solution to just boycott these horrible companies. I've recently decided to stop buying from the worst offenders altogether, and buy as little as possible from anyone else complicit. I get a lot of stuff secondhand, there's more than enough product out there for many things
Maybe that’s one of the reasons for Microsoft buying almost the whole industry, maybe they’re trying to stay competitive with tencent. Maybe one day we’re all gonna be thankful for that.
Kira is kicking ass with these fascinating micro docs 🔥💕. They've progressively gotten better (not that they were bad before, just different) over the last year - year & half, & he is in 🔥🔥
I mean Tencent really isn't a shadow company any more. Most gamers definitely know about it and them owning Riot and being heavily invested in others. Why even mention Activision Blizzard when they're about to be fully cut out... Microsoft is going to own it all shortly and you know that.
How, all the companies will merge and acquire until one last man standing, then this corporate will assume control over all local government. This is the end.
easily knew this was gonna be about Tencent because I've watched videos on them from creators like Moon, but that just makes me more interested to watch your video lol
Heh that itself is a copy although it is going to be tough to find anything that is entirely original. Pretty much every big company is doing that unless they are monopoly because there won't be as many around for them to copy from.
@@spinlock1785 Yeah, they certainly didn't invent it - they just saw that everyone else is doing it and nobody is stopping them, so they put everything into next gear... and nobody is stopping them. Yay us :D
If it doesn't impact us, it's fine. Most people don't know this, but China has a thriving parrallel economy completely unplugged from the rest of the world. They have, among other things: -Chinese McDonalds, with 3 bows in the M -Chinese BMW cars, but without the branding -Chinese Magnetic Rail trains, right out of scifi movies -Chinese Coca Cola -Chinese Animes -Chinese "J"RPGs -Chinese Public Transportation, with cool features such as busses that have a giant hole in the middle so other cars can pass through them -And so much more Everything we havem they have also. But in Chinese. And sometimes it is a bit cursed, like those construction companies and the shenanigans that happened with that. lol. If you know, you know. They get into European and American and Israeli companies or already have the manufacturing there. They then gather information. Then they replicate everything for themselves more cheaply. Partially this is the fault of the others for outsourcing everything to China and not expecting them to grab the opportunity by it's throat.
@@Mayhzon True, though like you said they make copies that simply aren't safe. Like you mentioned construction stuff. Unfortunately those builds get sent back into the global market and then you have items that skip regulations and safety that is enforced in other countries. Especially nowadays where online shopping makes thing go from CN to direct consumer. People need to make informed choices about where they are getting their products. That being said, it isn't helpful when companies purposely mislead you about where you're sourcing what you own, and your overall rights when using certain products and services.
monopolization like this gives me very little hope for game industry workers to be able to push back and get better pay and conditions, as the profit from the game sales is getting further and further away from the actual studio, and it causes some other hurdles to better conditions too
If they could do the same with Tencent, they would, governments in EU are already putting restrictions on apps and electronics from China for state employees of any significance for functioning of state and cutting Chinese companies from public competitions like building nuclear power plants or developing 5g network. But Tencent buying shares in volume relatively small is harder to go after without starting diplomatic incident.
How exactly? They appear to be doing exactly what any large corporation does; they're buying up smaller companies. That's exactly what Microsoft and Sony do. Simply because US propoganda would have you believe that all Chinese are evil doesn't make it true.
Tencent bought Fatshark and their newest game was filled with insane microtransactions and missing features compared to previous games. I cannot stand Tencent.
Funny how Microsoft is getting shit on for wanting to buy Activision, when the company they'd be buying it from is the one that needs to get hit with anti trust lawsuits
I'm of Chinese origin myself. It's pretty much become impossible, but I try my best stay off anything owned or linked by the Chinese government or a Chinese company. It means higher costs, but it pushes me to make more money and try to flow it back into the UK / the West (excluding countries where democracy / freedom of speech isn't a thing) as much as I can. I barely resemble lower middle class in my finances, so practically there may never be any significant impact, but I am doing what I can. Sadly most people just see money and few see implication for future generations. You do not want any countries that run dictatorships (in one form or another) to be the biggest global power.
It's unfortunate that nothing really was news to me, I've been observing how big tencent has been growing for the past 8 years and have been surprised by how little coverage the average person is exposed about them
theoretical question: if a game had spyware and it is run under linux with proton would it be able to spy on my system ? i would think if it is only intended for windows it could only see the wine prefix but i may be completely wrong about that
Any major acquisition of western companies goes through government approval as well (e.g the SEC). The fact that these acquisitions have gone through indicate that these issues likely aren't as serious as we think they are, or the SEC and other federal securities organizations are completely ignorant of the issue, which is extremely unlikely.
It's pretty frustrating to find out Tencent owns Diablo 4 AND it's major competitor Path of Exile. I was getting really excited for PoE2 and now I'm not so sure.
I knew of them, but more from the anime side than the gaming side. I knew they had a gaming branch, but no idea how large it was. I don't pay attention to the big money trading news.
The 100% acquired companies are the one you should really look out for. Having a fraction of a company doesn't mean much. Oh and there was an outcry with Valorant, because that thing essentially installs a rootkit on your computer.
They tend to get just enough to force their way on the board; that does give them some access to things they really shouldn't have access to. But of course, with publicly owned companies, it's up to every individual shareholder whether they sell or not. And that goes back to the good old "owning shares just to sell them for a higher price later" (rather than "owning shares because I support this company and expect it to do well in the future"), where a nice offer that doubles or quadruples your investment can be quite juicy. Not to mention that, for all we know, the sellers don't even know they're selling to Tencent - it's easy enough to "launder" shares. The only thing that can stop that are anti-monopoly laws and their bureaus. Which, unfortunately, have been quite broken in the latter half of the 20th century, as evidenced by the rampant US buyouts everywhere. China is just doing the same thing those stupid US corporations were doing first, exploiting the same loopholes and culture cultivated by the US corporations. Rich idiots wanting to get more rich and powerful screwing everyone over like usual. Strategies that give you a nice bonus short-term while utterly screwing the long-term for everyone, like usual. Should be illegal, and probably is...
They are investing a lot in the Japanese games industry too. I'm working on a project that is partially funded by Tencent and you might be surprised by the IP.
Those Dremel quick disconnect grinder wheels are the only ones I buy now. I hate fiddling with the stupid little screws on the regular ones. I also bought a Dremel chuck that I put on instead of the collet, so I can change bits without the little wrench, and it also allows the use of tiny drill bits of different sizes.
Larian is privately owned, though, so the 30% share doesn't mean much - it doesn't give Tencent any power over the company. There's almost no investor protections, unlike with publicly traded companies. It'd be nice to see the conditions of that sale, though. A reason to be worried is if Larian starts having financial trouble and needs to acquire more cash in exchange for shares; that could be a pressure point Tencent uses to acquire control.
Not surprised. I'm hesitant with a lot of companies, but Tencent outright scares me. It feels like they're getting ready to pull some super, SUPER shady shit in the next few years.
Thank you for not going down the easy path of “Chinese company always bad” and reminding how important it is for users to be informed about what they are using and who actually makes it. So “Is TenCent an evil MegaCorporation?” YES. They all are. It’s just a measure of degree. I should know, I work for one. I feel they are on the better side of it, but as Kira said, There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. As long as the current hyper capitalism rules, it’s up to us to be informed consumers.
"Unknown" my ass. Tencent is like one of the best known (and most infamous) companies nowadays. You have to be living under a rock to consider it unknown. Literally everyone knows as soon as you put the title up.
Hmmm..... anyone else think it's suspicious that most the developers who were crying about BG3 raising standards are owned by Tencent? Interesting... very interesting...
Game Dev here who directly collaborated with the Tencent people in China: I'd just like to mention that the collaboration with them was quite nice. Contrary to my initial beliefs, they never mentioned "maximizing monetization" or any of this sort. They were truly concerned with the game being fun, and supporting us in creating something that would stand out. Monetization came much later in their priority.
@@RuSosan Even the biggest corporations are still tiny compared to countries (other than really small countries). But they have absurdly disproportionate amount of power over those governments ("too big to fail", "think of the jobs", "here, there's some money for your election campaign...", "fossil fuels give us energy freedom!"). Cyberpunk didn't predict this - there, the corporations actually have more power than the governments. In reality, corporations and governments are in a very cozy relationship. How many US corporations would fail the second the governments withdraw their support, the subsidies, the hilariously pro-corporation laws, the rampant tax evasion and overall cheating? Even the fossil fuel companies ("See how cheap it is? We can't afford to lose that, it would ruin our economy brrr brrr!") are subsidized to a ridiculous extent all over the world.
Not only game industries in my country, most of e-commerce, bank, loans, factories, and warehouses if you trace it deep enough eventually you see shenzen/tencent.
As bad as Google, Meta, Apple, etc are they aren't harvesting organs and using slave labor etc, like the Chinese do except of course when they outsource things to China...
I get we like to hate on western companies but they aren't doing anything even close to tencent. Meta maybe but compared to tencent they're a great company
Level 5 did create yo Kai watch which is still insanely popular in Japan they have collabed with neon genesis attack on titan shonen jump hololive hello kitty kamen rider 7ds ultraman romance of the three kingdoms and like 20 other popular franchises I can’t think of at the top of my head
Who considers Tencent to be unknown?!? Regardless, their motivation for doing this has far less to do with being a tool for CCP soft-power, and far more to do with reducing their exposure to the Chinese market and the regulatory volatility of the CCP. It also puts them first in line to publish big western AAA games in China and enables them to benefit financially from the overall growth of the videogame industry as a whole. Which is the most likely course of events over the next 10-20 years. Also, at the time they made most these investments they also likely realized that as time went on making these investments would only become more difficult and that their buying power was at or near the highest it was going to be.
Not to mention that in many instances, these companies are providing a version of their code for TenCent to use/have a copy of, so they're paralegally stealing these other companies' work, which they "pinky-promise" to not rip/misuse I'm sure. In the end, Tencent gets to have their cake and eat it too, and I doubt their govt. would care if they came out with games in the future that used Activision's code, Gaijin's code, Ubi's code, etc. In the meantime, they get to make their money above-board without needing to worry about increasing expenditures on legal fees. I bet they could release their own addictive bangers for the Asian market at a fraction of the dev cost for a Western AAA game if they wanted to at this point, it's probably just too risky to do so. They definitely like to farm metadata too, which is both valuable on the free market and an asset that they can barter back to the CCP in exchange for political favors. I could see Tencent being 99% business-minded and hardly patriotically-driven, that's totally fair.
I first heard about Tencent because of Webnovel. Hearing all the horror stories about how their signed authors are treated, I naturally had a bad impression of the company from then onwards. I had no idea they owned SO many games until this video (and looked it up).
Well, the "communist" party got a lot of people which they have to entertain to avoid them thinking about politics too much. Just buying the biggest entertainment companies of the world really is just the easiest way to get that need of their population covered. China also tries hard to become fully independent to not be as vulnerable when the USA unilaterally decides which next non-US company can't trade with China anymore. They basically are ensuring themselves against the gunboat diplomacy that is currently ruling the world.
Knew this was going to be about Tencent from the video title, but didn't know much about their background / origins and how far their reach has spread in the industry. I've started seeing their logo pop up on movies now as well (though I can't remember the last time it happened off the top of my head). Great video Kira, thanks!
Edit: the thumbnail has changed since I posted this comment, there was originally no mention of Tencent!
I knew it was about Tencent from the video title because it had Tencent in the video title
No, wasn't.
Kira edited the title of the video. The original title didn't have Tencent in it.
I don't know how anyone can label Tencent "unknown". Anyone with a friend or relative who's even tangentially related to the pan-Asian cultures would at least know the juggernaut that is WeChat, and the company behind it. Also Tencent's been buying companies for ages, it's hard not to notice it. You have to be living under a rock to really not know it.
Title does not say Tencent, the thumbnail does...
Probably Monster Hunter
So basically Tencent is the BlackRock of the gaming industry
Yep
Buying all of the properties... in the Metaverse.
Brack Wrok
We need to make laws so this type of monopolies don’t occur.
well Blackrock already has investment in the gaming stuff already I think
In addition: they not only own video games but also Hollywood. Tencents Hollywood devision (tencent pictures) owns stakes in any major Hollywood production. With a few notable examples of: Kong skull island; wonder woman; venom and many more.
You cant operate any company in China without agreeing to give unrestricted access to your data, your customers data and anything else the CCP wants access to.
So ANY Chinese company, especially that big, will at least have one government representative in the company, whos job it is to make sure the company is reporting everything they know to the CCP. This includes any data collected abroad, no matter if its "stored abroad", copies of it are sent back to mainland China.
The CCP dosent need a "court order", they just need to ask for the data.
This is a good thing to be aware of.
Being fair, USA does the same thing.
And if KGB super chad Vladimir isn't dipping his fingers into the Russian "hacker" pie, I don't know what he does.
It is what it is. We're asset to one of the Hegemonial Powers.
In the past I'd have been upset by China, but seeing our current WEF funded ruling caste over here I'm not. We're perfectly capable of ruining our own stuff, no foreign interference needed.
This is why they dont give any options to delet your data/ID from their social media or games. Once you get in, there's no way out
So this will be like the CIA or homeland security reporting to the government?
@@aceman00ify they do.
Everything you do on the internet government has access.
@umbrellastudio7481 USA isnt a disctatorship as corrupt as the ccp, not even close
Excellent video. I've been avoiding Tencent staked games for years and years but it's getting nearly impossible nowadays since they are starting to have stakes in almost every publisher.
Me: This video must be about tencent.
Kira: This video is about tencent.
Me: I'm the greatest.
Ohhh you don't say lool
Me: These kind of comments really have to stop. Because it's cringe, massivly stupid and people use it because they have no imagination to think of something original to write. Every single comment is the same
@@komshobu2 Complaining in YT comments is a good way to let people know you have something original and imaginative to write. It's also MASSIVELY smart & not cringe!
@@KingofSandwiches Thank you for proving my point. But I don't think you have enough gray cell ls to even understand that much. But thanks anyway.. 😉
@@komshobu2apparently you don't have enough "grey cell" to write correctly either numb nuts.
Tencent's growing position is going to lead to a lot of horrible problems in the future. The average users who are aware and rightfully concerned over this are powerless to do anything about it, and eventually the companies who sold themselves out to Tencent will be put in just as powerless a situation. This isn't good.
One would have to live under the rock to not know that Tencent have their tentacles everywhere.
Tencentacles
*China have their tentacles everywhere.
Let's be honest, Tencent is a cog in the bigger machine.
I would bet you 10‘000$ that 90% of Americans and 60% of Europeans have fuck all knowledge about tencent let alone their relationship with the CCP.
I would hate to live under The Rock he's probably very heavy
@@sayLeotardbutsayitChineseyou'd only be living under a bad copy of the rock called a rock
I'm glad you briefly brought up Saudi Arabia at the end. While Tencent has seemingly been relatively hands off, the royal family... has not. And they now seem keen on getting in on buying or investing largely on game publishers as well.
IMO, the Saudi Royal Family may be worse than Tencent.
A country's government invests in industry to diversify their sources of income. Where is the problem with that?
The Blitzchung incident is the straw that broke the camel's back for me with Activision/Blizzard's games and made me uninstall WoW and never log back in. Now fast forward to today and they had or are currently in a lot of trouble for various employee mistreatments like sexual harrassment, STEALING FUCKING BREASTMILK from a nursing employee, and general crunch conditions! Also, look at how heavy the state of microtransactions are in their games (Hi, Diablo Immortal and Overwatch 2.)
and d4 😂
* *2003:* _I used to go into a store to find a game,_
* *2023:* _Now I go into a game to find a store._
That kid had no right to bring politics into gaming. He deserves what he got. Hong Kong is literally china.
@@darkcloud9053 Do you think athletes also have no right to bring social issues into sports? Also, China literally went back on everything they agreed to when they reacquired Hong Kong. Not sure why you would support a China in this.
@wintermute- again hong Kong was illegally taken from China. It's their land.
The only company they've got their hands on that makes a product I use is discord, but with eight years of chat logs I'm horrified to know that
You're better off than an American company owning your data. Like if you use Facebook, instagram, twitter, etc your data is being pulled by the NSA. And if history shows us anything America has done wayyyy more heinous shit on a clandestine level than any other country can shake a stick at.
They own a miniscule percent, so they can't get their hands on your logs. But you'd be naive to think they can't get your data as long as you don't touch their products. If you communicate with anyone that uses their product, you're probably logged and fingerprinted. And that's basically just about everyone. It sucks, but this is where we are these days.
@@zxbc1Exactly, don't be surprised if Google has logs of all your comments and the IPs you're using here for youtube. Not to go full tinfoil hat conspiracy theorist, but if you want to protect your privacy the only real solution is to get off the grid and stop using technology. Otherwise everything should be treated with caution at the minimum and realize all your actions may or could have already been tracked and logged online.
@@powertrip6426 I've said some pretty fucked up shit in chats and never been raided by the Feds (yet.) Looking at how the CCP dealt with the White Paper protests for instance (many more examples), though, I just have to flat-out disagree with your stance.
@@zxbc1 USA has backdoors into the entirety of your Windows operating system and Apple, too.
This is all really just a digital extension of Hegemonial Power flexing game now.
Still like how Mihoyo gets slandered by Tencent for refusing a deal from Tencent
Just 10cent doing 10cent thing I suppose
Thanks for covering this
I was so upset when they got their fingers in the Norwegian game company Funcom. This should be a huge red flag for everyone, because they're not only doing this with gaming companies. Chinese companies are reaching their fingers into many levels of many countries and companies.
It's the cardinal rule of capitalism. Money buys everything. You can't have the cake and eat it too. This is what the system produces.
@@zxbc1 Which is why we have regulations to prevent companies from getting too much power. Unfortunately the US barely bothers with said regulations anymore and Tencent is from a dictatorship, which lets crap like this happen.
So are oil rich countries. Many people there have no idea what to do with their money so they buy tons of everything everywhere. The dumbest thing is there aren't any plans to stop them from buying xyz unlike when microsoft was buying acblizzard for fears of monopoly because they're based in china. Can't sue people for copyright infringement as a foreigner in china because they laugh at you and keep doing it.
@@zxbc1Of course but what other alternative do you want? Communism? Socialism? The only government that was truly worked for the people to be free is capitalism with a mix of socialism. When you develop a ideology that has zero drawbacks please come back to this comment section and tell me so I can be the first on board but until then, you should try to complain to the government rather than the void.
Chinese economy is so tied to our western ones, That they don't even need to start a war to hurt us financially really hard. They already have more control than you think
Since Baldur's Gate 3 is popular atm, prob nobody would noticed that Tencent owns 30% of Larian Studios as an private investor.
Selling out can be a way to sustain development
Tencent only worries me because while they seem benign for now, that could change in an instant. No one man should have all that power, as they say.
They are not benign, never have been, its directly controlled and reports directly to the CCP.
they're not benign tho
@@deathmusa They're absolutely a benign tumor for now. They aren't the ones pushing any of the shitty business practices in the industry, they're just the owners. The moment they start handing down decisions mandating their subsidiaries follow that force bad practices on people, is when they become a cancer.
Mans never heard of nestle
@@Yumadlol yep. doesnt make tencent any less bad. one evil company does not invalidate the evil of another.
Tencent feel like one of those companies that just seem perfectly cool right up until they decide to activate a trap card. Which they could easily do at any time, no matter what game it is. Path of Exile looks pretty good right now, because not being Diablo 4 is a legit selling point. They know how marketing works.
at the very least they are better then western publishers where those publishers run those companies to the dirt
That is quite the insult towards PoE. PoE is definitely a lot more than just "not D4".
@@MorbidEel absolutely, but right now it's seeing huge growth purely due to disenfranchised D4 streamers promoting it as an alternative. Plus Tencent only have a 5% stake in Activision but completely own Grinding Gear Games, if internet sources are correct.
Brother… there is real Genocide going on in China, yk Tencent is directly controlled by the CCP yet you are talking about a trap card 💀💀💀
That company is worse than Nestlé could ever dream off.
@@greenhowie they own about 80% and iirc Chris Wilson said on a podcast the agreement was they continue to run their company as they will but TenC will run a version for the Chinese market and GGG would develop features for the Chinese client. afaik GGG reinvested most of the money back into the company to develop PoE 2.
who knows if that'll ever change. if the founders left I might start to worry.
i remember feeling a part of my soul dying when i heard the news about tencents investment into from software
Edit: I'm not talking about me dredding some change in gameplay, but rather that From Software is now another avenue for Tencent to try and creep data off of me from.
with 10-20% doesn't grant you power over how the company operates or what it does.
It was at the same time Sony made a similar sized investment though.
If it’s any consolation, Tencent has the reputation of being the least meddling holding company in the gaming industry. They basically forget about you as long as you’re making them money.
@hakuhyo174 I don't mean to be rude but are you brain damaged? They're operated by the CCP, their entire MO is meddling with foreigners
@brandondenny226 ow
"Name the biggest game companies in the world" Me: Probably Tencent.
I feel like the only people that don't know Tencent are just hyper casuals.
Paying attention to news is a pretty casual thing. The most hardcore gamers just play games.
@@monalisa-bs4zs "Don't think; just consume."
@@monalisa-bs4zs Literally one of the stupidest statements I've ever heard on the internet. Of all time.
Thanks, now i feel like a genius; so much thought from watching news about videogames. thats a low bar.
Tencent isn’t really unknown nowadays. Many gamers are aware of it, as it has been featured in other videos and news articles. Its participation in Epic Games in which it could potentially censor games sold on a platform used by the west on behalf of the CCP has always been troubling.
Tencent was in the video title before
Good thing most people stay with Valve.
It's completely unknown to the mainstream, and that's the group that actually makes a difference. Us very few who are informed with the industry are the only ones who know of Tencent. But Sharol down the street and her 9yo son Sam, neither who know what "meta" means and both who buy Mario and Just Dance because it's good family fun have no clue what Tencent is. And people like Sharol and Sam make up ~80% of the gaming population.
Finally someone credible makes this much needed video. I’ve been telling people for a few years about Tencent and the CCC taking over game companies.
It's a shame that a lot of people I talk to don't care about companies like Tencent, which are under the CPP, knowing everything that they do because they use things they own
I guess it's because: a) Its hard to avoid and b) you're writing this on hardware that is manufactured by the same CCP.
Yeah people don't realize every Chinese company is totally beholden to the CCP and how dangerous they are
Thats the most scary part. You explain them whats going on, how sinister all these actions are, whats in play and the entire corrupt background, the dangers... and their reply is ' "and? who cares?"' ... hopeless, disappointing, stupid f-ing people man....
No one bothers that tiktok is owned by the CCP either.
CCP or CIA, take your pick.
This needs more exposure. Thanks for this
Tencent is by far the biggest games company in the world - they are also pushing into crypto gaming and are turning up at many crypto events across the world. Great work
They do more than just games they own 10% of Universal Music
Tencent acquired my favorite game studio: Klei entertainment. I had a bad feeling when this happened in 2021. 😢
I still don't really get it, exactly what does that do to the games that company puts out? Why are you upset that tencent acquired this company? Did they start making the game worse and worse? Did they add a bunch of pay walls? I'm not trying to defend tencent just genuinely confused.
@@artoras6098Technically it doesn't change anything for the teams themselves. But Tencent has the right and ability to reorganize, control, oversee or otherwise influence the development if they see fit. That also includes dissolving a company if they are deemed not profitable enough. Being bought by Tencent basically comes with a looming threat over your head.
@@Mediados How do you know that exactly? Are the details of the contracts, terms and deals publicly available somewhere? Tencent has some kind of relationship with so many different game studios which ones has which of these "threats" you're talking about? Also are these situations hostile and one-sided as in a buyout of some sort where the studios have no say in the matter of tencent's involvement? Or are these deals that both parties have to consensually sign off on? If it's the latter, is there some kind of backing out or broken promises on tencent's part to these mutually agreed upon deals?
@@artoras6098 Of course we don't know the details, but the basic idea of being owned by someone else is that they get to make the big decisions.
To my theory they are acquiring gaming company for selling data OR to beat any competition
I said "Tencemt." I knew it. They own pieces of so many companies in the industry. They're sneaky.
I knew very well that they owned the gaming industry but never knew they were behind wechat or just how big wechat is
Could this be the reason why we are getting censorship in general when it comes to video games?
Games are actually less censored in china than they are in the west.
no the west is just mentally ill.
@@markoliimatainen2565 really ? Because I play quite some games (well mobile games) whose studios were acquired by Chinese companies and let me tell you, they censored a lotta thing, some even censored "Taiwan" in their chat lmao.
@@markoliimatainen2565 lol sure buddy, China's censoring freaking Winnie the Pooh. Let me know when that happens in the west
@@markoliimatainen2565 Blatantly false. China censors SO much more then the west does, it's insane. Look no further then the rebranding of PUBG into "Game of Peace".
Am a game dev who's had a lot of behind the scenes insight into how acquisitions have gone in the industry. While I have little insight into their dealings in China itself, the irony is despite the bad feeling and paranoia the gaming community have about Tencent they are generally seen and widely regarded in the west from a developer perspective as the most hands off overlords when it comes to acquiring or investing in studios and not interfering with the games.
From what I've heard they generally invest and just want to take a slice of the profits, and are pretty hands off at leaving companies to run their games how they wish. It's kinda a shame that their connection to China and very understandable paranoia about the Chinese government means that what are ultimately one of the more benign companies to buy or invest when it comes to how those games will be affected or monetized is often the most negatively received, compared to western publishers who would be far more inclined to interfere with the games and IPs they acquire, aggressively monetize, shut down studios and so on, to the detriment of the consumers.
Not had any personal dealings with them, I'll admit I bought into the narrative and was very surprised to hear this myself, but this is something I've heard time and time again over the years, and it's weird how completely at odds it is with the consumer side perception of any studio being involved with them. Not even arguing with anyone who doesn't want to support them, and obviously this is all ultimately hearsay of what I've heard, but heard quite a lot. Just feel its an interesting perspective to share that gamers themselves may not have heard.
While I do see what your saying/ suggesting about tencent being chill, and super hands off. If suddenly the company who owns 100%, 50%, or some percent of your company threatens to pull out unless you do some crazy request, thats a LOT of pressure I feel like. Its almost like a trap card.
@@joehelp5832if a company owns 100% of your company is not your company LOL
@@joehelp5832 It feels like a trap because it is a trap. ALWAYS trust your gut when it comes to these things. My issue is how do I do whatever I need to in order to make sure I'm not supporting them or any company they own in any way? That's the important bit.
@@joehelp5832sure - but that holds true for any company acquiring another. Just saying I've never heard a single horror story of this happening, when I've heard plenty about other companies. This is all hearsay I grant you, as I say not had any personal dealings and this is just what I've heard, but heard repeatedly. Just been struck by the dissonance between developer side perspective compared to consumer perspective on the Tencent = bad thing and thought it an interesting perspective to share.
@@joehelp5832 its the same for any studio that been bought and shut down by EA for example
I was thinking Tencent from the title, but then I thought: "no, Kira wouldn't clickbait us like that and use the word unknown for one of the best known villains in gaming."
I appreciate you putting this video together Kira. I hope UA-cam don't give you any trouble for it. We've been so concerned with Western companies and their control of our data, and rightly so, that many are ignoring the Chinese companies. There are many ways these companies can be a concern due to who they are beholden to, but I feel their ingratiation in to Western culture is a big concern as this is subtle and goes along the lines of winning hearts and minds. Just look at how many people use TikTok without any regard to who controls the app.
Not much point in getting too worked up about it, but it's important to push awareness.
Just to piggyback off your comment. Yes we should be worried our data is being shared, stored and sold without consent. It is worrying and we should keep pushing the boundaries for what is acceptable for big business to do with our data. Freedom of speech is important and we don’t want to go back to WW2 like conditions again or even DDR / stasi like conditions. Even the CCP is worrying to look at from a western perspective where we have a free democracy. I also think that’s why people downplay it, because China won’t have a massive impact on western society and politics without inserting Chinese leaders into the west etc. Technology is a wonderful thing but we also have to remember technology is made from a business standpoint and we don’t own anything we put on the internet. It’s not a part of us. It’s made up of bits and pixels, and someone owns the platforms we use and they have large tos written down. We should be more careful of what we put out there. Although it’s nice we live in a world where we can talk to someone across the world within miliseconds. But then again. It’s a service and we don’t own the data in any way. What is free is never free so to say. That’s why you have encrypted apps that aren’t watched by any governments so to say. Although they probably have back doors every where if necessary. Rant over lol. Just how I view the internet with my tinfoil hat on. Great video by Kira and it’s scary to see how tencent is taking over the gaming scene.
I'll be honest, if foreign statesmen 10.000 km across the globe know my name and what I play, I don't care much.
If the people here know all my stuff, that's definitely more acutely impacting me. Or not. Depending on how they use that data of course.
Good video though just to let you know Tencent didn't have their shares in From Soft when Elden Ring released. Armored Core 6 is the only game that could've had Tencent influence in it.
They only got 16% though, and it was at the same time Sony got about 14%. The company is still 66% owned by Kadokawa, so I don't think Tencent can have any influence with an investment that small. Still, it would be better for the games industry as a whole if Tencent and other similar-sized companies just died.
Oh no
@@Otakumanu 16% in a business this large is massive. MASSIVE. The sheer amount of influence a 16% stake gives is enormous.
Good stuff, Kira!
Think it’s a shame Tencent couldn’t help out with KOE’s fog of war then Caspian might have gotten passed that hurdle and then there may actually be a game more interactive than minesweeper on windows 95. Been following your content for ages, always great stuff mate.
It's funny because they put a bunch of money into Dead Matter. I wonder why Caspian didn't go for Tencent money lol
Thank you for this vid, I can just direct people to your vid now when I'm speaking about Tencent.
What, the Chinese being chinese? Shock and horror.
imagine my shock.
Color me surprised
they're literally trying to own everything, its not just gaming
and doing a pretty good job at it, china is going for the classic civilizations economic win where hardly anyone even realises you are about to win the game
You're assuming that everyone is sticking to the rules and it's a fair game or something.
1. If Western Hegemony is tired of the Eastern Hegemony, they can just straight up pull the plug whenever. See what they did to Huawei, a pretty legit company.
2. It's not like every piece of technological equipment hasn't been backdoored at least two to three times. Uncle Sam has his fingers in as many pies as the Kenshin Impact Weeb Brigade. And Russia is also pretty far ahead when it comes to internet tracking.
2 social media and 1 patreon link, but not for example, the wiki entry on chinese financially motivated censorship in the west you showed at around 11:20? the reporting you do is great but it needs more info in the video description i feel like! it's a serious topic
I see so many people talk about Tencent and the companies they own, but not a single one of them ever points out that Tencent itself is actually owned by South African company Naspers, so well done
the main problem is that people dont take responsibility for their spending. They spend money without thinking about it at all...
I wouldnt call it the main problem, but it SHOULD be an easy solution to just boycott these horrible companies. I've recently decided to stop buying from the worst offenders altogether, and buy as little as possible from anyone else complicit. I get a lot of stuff secondhand, there's more than enough product out there for many things
Eye opening video. Great work!
You need to live in the wild with the wolves to not know Tencent. They are Chinese Disney.
Another great video hope gets views and shared among gamer’s
Being a League player I knew it would be about Tencent and I already know a lot about it, but still, I love watching vids about Tencent
Maybe that’s one of the reasons for Microsoft buying almost the whole industry, maybe they’re trying to stay competitive with tencent. Maybe one day we’re all gonna be thankful for that.
Kira is kicking ass with these fascinating micro docs 🔥💕. They've progressively gotten better (not that they were bad before, just different) over the last year - year & half, & he is in 🔥🔥
Great editing/production! :)
Mais J'aime le long ones
If you get what I'm saying
Great video Kira, this is the good stuff, keep at it man!
I mean Tencent really isn't a shadow company any more. Most gamers definitely know about it and them owning Riot and being heavily invested in others.
Why even mention Activision Blizzard when they're about to be fully cut out... Microsoft is going to own it all shortly and you know that.
Great video. I think this is the best video of the channel. Great work
We are moving fast towards a central total state where one monopoly, one party controls everything and humanity is destroyed.
How, all the companies will merge and acquire until one last man standing, then this corporate will assume control over all local government. This is the end.
easily knew this was gonna be about Tencent because I've watched videos on them from creators like Moon, but that just makes me more interested to watch your video lol
Trust Chinese companies to never be direct, to sneak around and to copy off of innovative people.
Heh that itself is a copy although it is going to be tough to find anything that is entirely original. Pretty much every big company is doing that unless they are monopoly because there won't be as many around for them to copy from.
@@spinlock1785 Yeah, they certainly didn't invent it - they just saw that everyone else is doing it and nobody is stopping them, so they put everything into next gear... and nobody is stopping them. Yay us :D
If it doesn't impact us, it's fine.
Most people don't know this, but China has a thriving parrallel economy completely unplugged from the rest of the world.
They have, among other things:
-Chinese McDonalds, with 3 bows in the M
-Chinese BMW cars, but without the branding
-Chinese Magnetic Rail trains, right out of scifi movies
-Chinese Coca Cola
-Chinese Animes
-Chinese "J"RPGs
-Chinese Public Transportation, with cool features such as busses that have a giant hole in the middle so other cars can pass through them
-And so much more
Everything we havem they have also. But in Chinese. And sometimes it is a bit cursed, like those construction companies and the shenanigans that happened with that. lol. If you know, you know.
They get into European and American and Israeli companies or already have the manufacturing there. They then gather information. Then they replicate everything for themselves more cheaply.
Partially this is the fault of the others for outsourcing everything to China and not expecting them to grab the opportunity by it's throat.
@@Mayhzon True, though like you said they make copies that simply aren't safe. Like you mentioned construction stuff. Unfortunately those builds get sent back into the global market and then you have items that skip regulations and safety that is enforced in other countries. Especially nowadays where online shopping makes thing go from CN to direct consumer. People need to make informed choices about where they are getting their products. That being said, it isn't helpful when companies purposely mislead you about where you're sourcing what you own, and your overall rights when using certain products and services.
monopolization like this gives me very little hope for game industry workers to be able to push back and get better pay and conditions, as the profit from the game sales is getting further and further away from the actual studio, and it causes some other hurdles to better conditions too
Meanwhile UK courts: Oh no! We can't let Microsoft buy Bethesda, then they will have a monopoly! 😂
If they could do the same with Tencent, they would, governments in EU are already putting restrictions on apps and electronics from China for state employees of any significance for functioning of state and cutting Chinese companies from public competitions like building nuclear power plants or developing 5g network. But Tencent buying shares in volume relatively small is harder to go after without starting diplomatic incident.
Mexicos Carlos Slim became the richest mexican by being the only cell phone option in the country.
sounds like that on a scale of 1.3billion people
one of the most filthy corporations in this industry , truly despicable
How exactly? They appear to be doing exactly what any large corporation does; they're buying up smaller companies. That's exactly what Microsoft and Sony do. Simply because US propoganda would have you believe that all Chinese are evil doesn't make it true.
I tend to avoid companies that have a huge portion of it owned or influenced by tencent
Wow I just saw the video title change live while watching. Interesting lol
Tencent bought Fatshark and their newest game was filled with insane microtransactions and missing features compared to previous games. I cannot stand Tencent.
Funny how Microsoft is getting shit on for wanting to buy Activision, when the company they'd be buying it from is the one that needs to get hit with anti trust lawsuits
I'm of Chinese origin myself. It's pretty much become impossible, but I try my best stay off anything owned or linked by the Chinese government or a Chinese company.
It means higher costs, but it pushes me to make more money and try to flow it back into the UK / the West (excluding countries where democracy / freedom of speech isn't a thing) as much as I can. I barely resemble lower middle class in my finances, so practically there may never be any significant impact, but I am doing what I can.
Sadly most people just see money and few see implication for future generations. You do not want any countries that run dictatorships (in one form or another) to be the biggest global power.
I don't know where to start.
It's unfortunate that nothing really was news to me, I've been observing how big tencent has been growing for the past 8 years and have been surprised by how little coverage the average person is exposed about them
Problems only arise when what we need is commercialized. Good thing land isn't seen as a commodity all over the world
Tencent was the first thing that came to mind.
theoretical question:
if a game had spyware and it is run under linux with proton would it be able to spy on my system ? i would think if it is only intended for windows it could only see the wine prefix but i may be completely wrong about that
What game would you be running on Linux behind proton?
@@artoras6098 at this point my whole steam library works
Thumbs up if you knew it was Tencent before you clicked on the video
Yep. This has been a long time coming.
Yea saw a documentary like a week ago on it...they're like the cartel of the gaming world...until they got cucked by the CCP 😂🤭🤔
I gave you thumbs down for soliciting for thumbs up.
@@haywoodjay385 not that thumbs down will do anything on UA-cam lol
Any major acquisition of western companies goes through government approval as well (e.g the SEC). The fact that these acquisitions have gone through indicate that these issues likely aren't as serious as we think they are, or the SEC and other federal securities organizations are completely ignorant of the issue, which is extremely unlikely.
The issue is the CCP, command and control apparatuses.
It's pretty frustrating to find out Tencent owns Diablo 4 AND it's major competitor Path of Exile.
I was getting really excited for PoE2 and now I'm not so sure.
Pay on Everything 2
Good change of video title. Stealthy company instead of a company that nobody know. We know, but not all of it and we are not very aware
How is Tencent "unknown"? They are a publicly traded company, anyone with a pulse has heard of them by now.
Sounds better than "well known Chinese company taking over gaming" I guess
It's a clickbait title by simply just using the word "unknown". Still love your content, but do better Kira without trying to game the algorithm.
I knew of them, but more from the anime side than the gaming side. I knew they had a gaming branch, but no idea how large it was. I don't pay attention to the big money trading news.
Fousey tryna silence you is crazy. Keep up the great content homie
He is copywrite striking anyone who uses him in anything right now.
The 100% acquired companies are the one you should really look out for. Having a fraction of a company doesn't mean much.
Oh and there was an outcry with Valorant, because that thing essentially installs a rootkit on your computer.
Thats scary, doesn't battle bit also install core level anti cheat?
what they claim is just anti-cheat, you mean?
They tend to get just enough to force their way on the board; that does give them some access to things they really shouldn't have access to. But of course, with publicly owned companies, it's up to every individual shareholder whether they sell or not. And that goes back to the good old "owning shares just to sell them for a higher price later" (rather than "owning shares because I support this company and expect it to do well in the future"), where a nice offer that doubles or quadruples your investment can be quite juicy. Not to mention that, for all we know, the sellers don't even know they're selling to Tencent - it's easy enough to "launder" shares.
The only thing that can stop that are anti-monopoly laws and their bureaus. Which, unfortunately, have been quite broken in the latter half of the 20th century, as evidenced by the rampant US buyouts everywhere. China is just doing the same thing those stupid US corporations were doing first, exploiting the same loopholes and culture cultivated by the US corporations. Rich idiots wanting to get more rich and powerful screwing everyone over like usual. Strategies that give you a nice bonus short-term while utterly screwing the long-term for everyone, like usual. Should be illegal, and probably is...
They are investing a lot in the Japanese games industry too. I'm working on a project that is partially funded by Tencent and you might be surprised by the IP.
hints?
@@MartianCandies nope. No can do. :)
There is zero chance that you haven’t heard of it before though.
Those Dremel quick disconnect grinder wheels are the only ones I buy now. I hate fiddling with the stupid little screws on the regular ones. I also bought a Dremel chuck that I put on instead of the collet, so I can change bits without the little wrench, and it also allows the use of tiny drill bits of different sizes.
So Larian Studios should be getting and offer from Tencent any day now if they haven't already.
They own 30% of Larian
30% of Larian is owned by Tencent.
Larian is privately owned, though, so the 30% share doesn't mean much - it doesn't give Tencent any power over the company. There's almost no investor protections, unlike with publicly traded companies. It'd be nice to see the conditions of that sale, though.
A reason to be worried is if Larian starts having financial trouble and needs to acquire more cash in exchange for shares; that could be a pressure point Tencent uses to acquire control.
I used to work for one of the gaming companies that Tencent acquired - and let me tell you, it's nothing good...
Spill the dirty dark secrets, what did you see?
Not surprised. I'm hesitant with a lot of companies, but Tencent outright scares me. It feels like they're getting ready to pull some super, SUPER shady shit in the next few years.
That leaves out a key bit of detail. How was it before the acquisition?
@@spinlock1785How much does Tencent pay you to 'dispell' bad talk? What sorta dogma did they feed you? What's the percentage?
@@BevinEG nice boogeyman i'm sure tencent cares so much about some tiny company they bought up.
in thumbnail you forgot about Techland
as a game developer, Tencent is the single largest existential threat to the industry.
blackrock/esg is a bigger threat
literally not even true. They pump a lot of money into indies, too. Stop overexaggerating in order to try and make yourself look like an expert.
@@dan-bz7dz did you not watch the video?
@@dan-bz7dz ok, watch it again, and this time turn the sound on.
Thank you for not going down the easy path of “Chinese company always bad” and reminding how important it is for users to be informed about what they are using and who actually makes it.
So “Is TenCent an evil MegaCorporation?” YES. They all are. It’s just a measure of degree. I should know, I work for one. I feel they are on the better side of it, but as Kira said, There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.
As long as the current hyper capitalism rules, it’s up to us to be informed consumers.
Tencent in the gaming space while Blackrock on the rest.
what is the Wikipedia page to look up the influence?
you actually see the tensent logo when you open pokemon unite
"Unknown" my ass. Tencent is like one of the best known (and most infamous) companies nowadays. You have to be living under a rock to consider it unknown. Literally everyone knows as soon as you put the title up.
Hmmm..... anyone else think it's suspicious that most the developers who were crying about BG3 raising standards are owned by Tencent?
Interesting... very interesting...
Tencent already owns 30% of Larian, so nice job being unobservant.
@@ultimamage3 Isn't that worse?
The other devs: It was the corporate overlord's fault
Larian: We have the same corporate overlord
How about give the sources in the description next time, kira?
Game Dev here who directly collaborated with the Tencent people in China: I'd just like to mention that the collaboration with them was quite nice. Contrary to my initial beliefs, they never mentioned "maximizing monetization" or any of this sort. They were truly concerned with the game being fun, and supporting us in creating something that would stand out. Monetization came much later in their priority.
That doesn't explain why they are buying up everything in the industry. I highly doubt it's because of some lofty goal of ensuring games are fun.
i like that you only mention the fun of the game and monetization
Link to the wiki article?
This is what happens without government regulations/restrictions. This is capitalism. And not even its final form. It will only get worse.
Indeed. The corporations already outpower entire nations and there's no stopping it now.
this is what happens when a corporation, backed by a government, participates in capitalism
In the 1980's the cyberpunk dystopia had Japanese characters, clearly now it'll be Standard Mandarin.
@@RuSosan Even the biggest corporations are still tiny compared to countries (other than really small countries). But they have absurdly disproportionate amount of power over those governments ("too big to fail", "think of the jobs", "here, there's some money for your election campaign...", "fossil fuels give us energy freedom!"). Cyberpunk didn't predict this - there, the corporations actually have more power than the governments. In reality, corporations and governments are in a very cozy relationship. How many US corporations would fail the second the governments withdraw their support, the subsidies, the hilariously pro-corporation laws, the rampant tax evasion and overall cheating? Even the fossil fuel companies ("See how cheap it is? We can't afford to lose that, it would ruin our economy brrr brrr!") are subsidized to a ridiculous extent all over the world.
Ah, Tencent. I am familiar with them but didn't know their history.
Wtf I was half way through that new vid before it got taken down. Lame asf UA-cam
Same. I almost finished it when it crashed. Fousey is copywrite claiming anyone who posts anything with him on it.
@@samhainnc9416 ofc he would
Not only game industries in my country, most of e-commerce, bank, loans, factories, and warehouses if you trace it deep enough eventually you see shenzen/tencent.
Tencent: *tries to establish technological dystopia*
Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta: "That's our thing bozo"
As bad as Google, Meta, Apple, etc are they aren't harvesting organs and using slave labor etc, like the Chinese do except of course when they outsource things to China...
I get we like to hate on western companies but they aren't doing anything even close to tencent. Meta maybe but compared to tencent they're a great company
Level 5 did create yo Kai watch which is still insanely popular in Japan they have collabed with neon genesis attack on titan shonen jump hololive hello kitty kamen rider 7ds ultraman romance of the three kingdoms and like 20 other popular franchises I can’t think of at the top of my head
Who considers Tencent to be unknown?!? Regardless, their motivation for doing this has far less to do with being a tool for CCP soft-power, and far more to do with reducing their exposure to the Chinese market and the regulatory volatility of the CCP.
It also puts them first in line to publish big western AAA games in China and enables them to benefit financially from the overall growth of the videogame industry as a whole. Which is the most likely course of events over the next 10-20 years.
Also, at the time they made most these investments they also likely realized that as time went on making these investments would only become more difficult and that their buying power was at or near the highest it was going to be.
Not to mention that in many instances, these companies are providing a version of their code for TenCent to use/have a copy of, so they're paralegally stealing these other companies' work, which they "pinky-promise" to not rip/misuse I'm sure.
In the end, Tencent gets to have their cake and eat it too, and I doubt their govt. would care if they came out with games in the future that used Activision's code, Gaijin's code, Ubi's code, etc. In the meantime, they get to make their money above-board without needing to worry about increasing expenditures on legal fees. I bet they could release their own addictive bangers for the Asian market at a fraction of the dev cost for a Western AAA game if they wanted to at this point, it's probably just too risky to do so.
They definitely like to farm metadata too, which is both valuable on the free market and an asset that they can barter back to the CCP in exchange for political favors. I could see Tencent being 99% business-minded and hardly patriotically-driven, that's totally fair.
I didn't know about them. Nor does my partner., parents, partners parents ... infact I don't think anyone I know in the real world has heard of them.
very level ending there, good take imo.
Like Disney owning over 70% of major television networks..
Ah yes, Disney with their famous government ties. TOTALLY the same thing
It's not that tencent has it's tencent Pictures devision that Dips their toes in any major Hollywood production....
I first heard about Tencent because of Webnovel. Hearing all the horror stories about how their signed authors are treated, I naturally had a bad impression of the company from then onwards. I had no idea they owned SO many games until this video (and looked it up).
Well, the "communist" party got a lot of people which they have to entertain to avoid them thinking about politics too much.
Just buying the biggest entertainment companies of the world really is just the easiest way to get that need of their population covered.
China also tries hard to become fully independent to not be as vulnerable when the USA unilaterally decides which next non-US company can't trade with China anymore. They basically are ensuring themselves against the gunboat diplomacy that is currently ruling the world.
I was like, is there a chinese company besides tencent? I guess it's not as well-known as I thought