Tencent looks to Nintendo to ‘learn the essence’ of making console games for Western audiences

China mobile giant Tencent has confirmed it’s looking to work with Japanese developer Nintendo to “learn the essence of making console games” for audiences outside of China, like the USA and Europe.

“What we want is to expand from China, and one target is console game players in the U.S. and Europe,” a Tencent official – who asked not to be identified – told the Wall Street Journal (thanks, Eurogamer). “We hope to create console games with Nintendo characters, and learn the essence of making console games from Nintendo engineers.”

“Tencent is skillfully pursuing silent global domination, via expansion primarily in the form of major and minor investments in industry companies around the world without rebranding them as Tencent,” analyst Lisa Cosmas Hanson, managing partner at Niko Partners, told the WSJ.

Coincidentally, China – which Tencent primarily serves – recently implemented a new law that places a curfew on the screen time of its young people. The new law requires everyone under the age of 18 to refrain from playing games between the hours of 10pm – 8am, and for no longer than 90 minutes each day – or 3 hours on the weekend. 

China’s National Press and Publication Administration have implemented this new law in response to video game addiction, nearsightedness, and “poor academic performance across a broad swath of society”. Furthermore, the government has also put a limit on how much players can spend on DLC and microtransactions. Going forward, a sliding scale will determine how much a player is permitted to spend a month – which is between £22 and £44 a month – depending upon how old they are. 

Tencent has stakes in a number of US and European development studios, most recently Supercell and Sharkmob, as well partnerships with companies like The Pokemon Company, Razer, and Nintendo. It also has stakes in Activision Blizzard and Fortnite developer, Epic Games.