Tencent acquires minority stake in Playtonic Games

Tencent has acquired a minority stake in Playtonic Games, the companies announced.

Playtonic will retain full creative control over its intellectual property, and use the investment to scale from their current single-team structure to multiple teams, with an emphasis on hiring diverse talent from near and afar, improving their headquarters, and expanding in new locations.

The studio has also hired Danny Spiteri, formerly of Raw Fury and Team17, as its head of publishing, allowing studio head Gavin Price and executive producer Andy Wilson to spend more time on the development side.

Find comments from Playtonic below.

Gavin Price, Playtonic Studio Head and Founder

“Six years ago we built a cool, exciting rocket ship, set a course we think is right and exciting. We are thrilled that Tencent agrees with that course and has provided some rocket fuel to further the reach of our mission!

“The countdown to today has included (deep inhale)… our record breaking Kickstarter for Yooka-Laylee, growing the buddy-duo’s reach with the acclaimed Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, establishing Playtonic Friends and the successful launch of its first three titles—BPM: Bullets Per Minute, A Little Golf Journey, and Demon Turf, signing three further incredible beauties in L’il gator Game, Victory Heat Rally, and Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince, and all the while still being cool (ask our parents)! BUT with Tencent’s help we can scale up and fast-track the super-exciting, super-secret projects we’ve been keeping close to our treasure chests too… things are going to get Bat Ship Crazy over the next few years! Please imagine a wink emoji right now.”

Danny Spiteri, Playtonic Head of PUblishing

“It’s been less than a year since Playtonic Friends was unveiled but, it’s fair to say, it’s made quite an impression in a relatively short space of time. The array of titles that’s already been published is quite something and I’m excited to see how I can add wind to the sails to help us build on the momentum we’ve already amassed to power us into 2022.”