Very Late Edit: Image links here as they work if pasted into a separate window however Tencent's Level Infinite no longer wants to play ball with my gag-balls. The fiends!
"We think a good publishing strategy is to look at the whole market and do the global version [of any game] first, not to go separately step-by-step ā I don't think that's a good approach," Tencent's global games CEO Michelle Liu tells
GamesIndustry.biz.
She adds: "We canāt assume one version is the right fit or approach for all regions. So the next step [is] to do very detailed and customised publishing solutions for the different regions, especially some top 'tier one' areas. We [also] need to do very deep communications with all of the community. [There are] the things we have learnt from our industry partners."
Article warrants a full read as Tencent Games, both via its separate developers (all the ones mentioned in the article, plus Soleil) plus investing in many others like PlatinumGames but also via its
Level Infinite publishing label is definitely one to watch,
Fatshark already making waves (pun intended) among Warhammer/Warhammer 40K fans. Speaking of which,
Splash Damage purchase of
Bulkhead was announced soon after the Game Awards trailer for Transformers: Reactivate (
Games Industry). While both studios have been inconsistent over the years,
got plenty of titles on the way, an overall move away from support work towards original properties, including a
new sci-fi IP &
Wardogs King of the Hill. Enchancer Group, Tencent Games, Netease Games all building up to become major forces, but can they deliver? Ideal time to look over a recent roundtable discussion on
tips for selling a studio as it provides some good insight into M&As, some useful tips as well.
Already mentioned in the Media Create thread but thought I'd look into the acquisition of
Aquaplus (including
Fix Records) by
CREST (via
Gematsu), a little further as the new parent company mentioned having video game IP of its own to draw upon. The company has published a half dozen games on
Steam over the past 18 months (some of which have Switch & PS4 versions), with
Aria Chronicle &
Metallic Child having a good user response, although for me the one to check the demos for,
Last Light with its Corpse Party/Yomawari vibes. Team Corn Field...Children of the Corn: The Game. Make it so Mr Crest! Line up is definitely worth a closer examination. Long story short, Crest seemingly have the ability to publish Aquaplus games internationally, perhaps they'll coordinate with its Animation division to produce cut scenes/TV/OVA as part of its stated 360 approach to handle everything in-house for any multi-media franchise.
Ahead of a merger to form
Hike (cue Take a Hike! company slogan, please use it Crest free of charge, you're welcome), quick look over its partners to see what they do.
QBist appears to be a long running support work & physical goods company, including videogame guides) &
Sanetty Produce...struggling here (Sanetty more like Sanity amirite?) but I think its involved in talent for musicals/live events/stage plays including NieR Automata with
Yorha. Help! Anyone able to translate the Game Division (aside from recently founded Yokohama based visual novel studio
Novus) section of the above image? Visual novels are not my forte, weary as I am of falling down the rabbit hole of the final obscure frontier, the 13th circle of niche hell
vndb so I'll stop there as thankfully
Automaton-Media is on hand to help explain all things Novus instead. But wait, there's more,
Minato Soft back catalogue to research, which originated from
Candy Soft. Oooh oooh, so many more links to find, so much more text to auto-translate...so many visual novels, so little time...no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!