Do you know that Tencent has invested in Grinding Gear Games, which is one of biggest video game company in the world? When GGG has announced this news in the community, it does arouse a hot discussion among all Path of Exile players.

 

 

Below are some answers to some questions that GGG prepared for all players, who may have about this investment:

 

Why Tencent? Why not another company?


Tencent is one of the largest companies in the world and also one of the largest games publishers in the world. Tencent owns giant franchises like League of Legends and Clash of Clans and has a strong reputation for respecting the design decisions of developers and studios they invest in, allowing a high level of autonomy in continuing to operate and develop their games.

 

We have been approached by many potential acquirers over the last five years, but always felt that they didn't understand Path of Exile, or that they had other agendas (like signing users up to their services). Tencent's agenda is clear: to give us the resources to make Path of Exile as good as it can be.

 

Is Grinding Gear Games becoming part of Tencent?


Grinding Gear Games is still an independently-run company in New Zealand. All of its developers still work for Grinding Gear Games and have not become Tencent employees. The founders (Chris, Jonathan and Erik) are still running the company, just like we have been for the last 11 years. Going forward, we will have financial reporting obligations to Tencent but this will have minimal impact on our philosophy and operations.

 

Will Tencent try to change Path of Exile?


No. We spoke to CEOs of other companies that Tencent has invested in, and have been assured that Tencent has never tried to interfere with game design or operations outside of China. We retain full control of Path of Exile and will only make changes that we feel are best for the game.

 

Will Path of Exile become Pay to Win?


No. We will not make any changes to its monetisation on our international servers.

 

Will Grinding Gear Games prioritise the Chinese version of Path of Exile?


The Chinese version of Path of Exile currently has its releases a few weeks after the international version. We are working hard to reduce this gap so that they come out closer together (or even simultaneously), but are not planning to prioritise the Chinese version of Path of Exile ahead of the international version. We want to treat all of our customers equally without any of them being frustrated at missing features or delayed releases.

 

Will the Chinese version get some features ahead of the international one?


We develop almost all features on the international version. But sometimes, Tencent will request features that they want to try in the Chinese version that we don't plan to roll into the international version. If those features turn out to be a really good fit for both versions, then we of course port them back into the international version.

 

Will I have to have some type of Tencent account to log in?


No. Nothing is changing with the way you access Path of Exile on the international servers.

 

What's next for Grinding Gear Games? A lot more Path of Exile! We are committed to our current schedule of four releases per year, and we have some really big plans for future expansions. If you like what we've done so far, you'll love what we're working on next. As well as multiple 3.x expansions in 2018 and 2019, we've just started development of 4.0.0, which is currently targeted to enter Beta testing in early 2020.

 

Above are some FAQs for Tencent's investment, we all know that Tencent Game is good at selling game products, for example, maybe we can buy PoE currency from GGG after Tencent taking control of the Path of Exile's operation. Ok, let's check out the views of POE players on r/pathofexile

 

mistrhide

My guess is that we will not notice much change. I believe the money we spend on MTX will still go to the guys it does now. I think Tencent only wants to monkey with the stuff in China. China is freaking huge and untapped for monetization. I am sure their goal is to make all of their money there. If I was a chinese player I would worry but I doubt the rest of us should.

 

VaguelyPrototype

well, i gave ggg plenty of money over the past 2k hours, enough to have bought at least 8 or 9 triple-a title games. so, i will continue to ride on this train until it wrecks but i will not be putting any more fuel into it. best of luck, ggg.

 

am301

See what I mean by attention seekers lmao, a thread wasn't enough for you.

 

HaHAAITSMEEEE

I'm ok with this. Tencent has only been part of a couple fuck-ups, everything else has been pretty good.

The major fuck-up was ArcheAge

LoL was improved

PUBG is dying(-11%Growth/monthly)

CrossFire is unplayable(hackers)

DFO has 600 active players.

 
07Ghost
GGG, you guys undervalue your stocks. Should only sell 50%.
 
FeydorTol
All these reddit trolls saying people just buy supporter packs for the MTX and not to offer support to GGG
I'm over here thinking, "you're telling me you spend $100s to play dress up on ugly character models in a pretend world?"
And you think its unbelievable that I wanted to help out a company I used to like, lol.
 
blueberra1 
There has been something happening for the past few years in the brewing industry that is germane to Tencent's acquisition of GGG.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has been buying major and smaller breweries throughout the world. Many of the smaller acquisitions started as micro / craft breweries and grew regionally until they showed up on A-B InBev's radar.
Next thing you know, the acquisition happens and the founders cash in. Sometimes they stayed, sometimes they moved on.
The acquired company would then have access to A-B Inbev's distribution resources and 'influence'.
Someone intimate with an acquisition would have knowledge as to whether A-B InBev is 'hands-on' management or only wants its pound of flesh.
 
Woops, different people would have very different opinions on this Tencent's Investment, but it seems that most guys do not feel well with this investment, in spite of Grinding Gear Games is still an independent company. Ok, forget all of this, you should just remember that PoecurrencyBuy will keep offering Poe Orbs for you whatever Tencent or GGG will control the game.