Tencent to open AAA studio in North America

Tencent is set to open a new AAA studio in North America, and has hired veteran developer Scott Warner as studio director. (via GI.biz).

https://twitter.com/scottfeed/status/1261486096057155585

The announcement comes via Twitter, where Warner stated: “I am moving on to a new role. I’ll be the studio director of a new AAA operation in North America for Tencent. We will be hiring for all disciplines at all levels so reach out to me for details.”

Warner has history with AAA development, having worked as design director on Halo 4 at 343 Industries, game director on Battlefield Hardline at EA Visceral, and most recently was game director for Ubisoft.

There is no concrete information on where exactly in North America the studio will be based, with Warner stating that it “might be Seattle, might be Los Angeles.”

By revenue, Tencent is the world’s largest game publisher – their Q1 2020 financial report pointed at RMB 108 billion ($15.3 billion) in revenue in the three month period ended March 31, 2020. However, much of their growth outside of China has been fuelled by a series of acquisitions and investments, such as Supercell and PlatinumGames.