Tencent grabs 5% stake in Paradox

Chinese gaming giant Tencent has spent around 14.3m to acquire a five per cent share of Paradox Interactive.

The deal values the company at approximately 286m. Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester stays on as a key shareholder with a 33.3 per cent share of the company. Investment firm Splitan owns 30.5 per cent.

The deal paves the way for building Paradox’s Chinese fanbase.

Tencent approached us as big fans of our grand strategy games and with a genuine interest in Paradox and our onward journey,” Wester said. It has always been very important for us that any partners we bring on board can contribute in a unique and attractive way to Paradox and have a long term commitment to the company.

Tencent certainly fit the bill with their network and know-how of a market where we are not yet present and we believe Tencent will be able to add great value to Paradox in near and long term.”

Tencent’s chief strategy officer James Mitchell added: Paradox has an inspiring record of focusing on doing a few things extremely well, creating games that demand much from its players but deliver more in return, and faithfully extending its franchises via high quality updates and expansion packs.

As a player of Europa Universalis games for 10 years and of Stellaris since launch, we look forward to teaming up with thoughtful and strategic gamers in China to discover Paradox’s deep, emergent titles, and enabling them to colonize the New World, as well as the outermost Galactic confederations.”

Paradox has recently enjoyed success with space strategy game Stellaris, which sold over 200,000 units in its first day of sale. The company also spoke out about the race row that briefly engulfed the game, after a mod was released that removed its racial diversity.

In fact, Paradox has been unusually outspoken of late, having recently come to the defence of a reviewer who was lambasted for scoring the game lower than his contemporaries.