Tencent reportedly invests $71m in developer Ourpalm

Chinese developer Ourpalm has reportedly received an investment of $71.7 million from Tencent, according to Pocket Gamer.

The breakdown of the deal means that media giant Tencent, which also owns Riot Games, Glu Mobile and Activision Blizzard amongst others, will own 2 per cent of the company which equals 55.4 million shares.

Ourpalm is a mobile and browser game developer that has been growing steadily over the last five years. The company acquired PlayCrab and Shang Games in 2013 and merged with Dovo Entertainment in 2013 and TIANMA in 2015, giving it a big foothold into the ARPG mobile market. 

As well as producing games for mobile and the web, Ourpalm also distributes games and exclusively publishes The King of Fighters franchise in China. The company also have deals with Western developers, including producing a mobile game based on the Ubisoft Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Tencent is no stranger to strategically acquiring companies. As recently as last week, the company was rumoured to be looking at Finnish mobile developer Rovio as a potential acquisition and back in April, it acquired a 9.9 per cent stake in Chinese developer Seasun.

With esports being a growth market for Tencent, the company recently announced a five-year $15 billion plan to invest in the Chinese esports industry. You can read full details of this deal on our sister site, Esports-Pro