PlatinumGames Receives Investment From Tencent To 'Explore Self-Publishing'

It’s reassuring that it’s not a full buyout, should keep Tencent from making The Wonderful 101 a battle royale 😂

That's probably what Epic, Blizzard and Riot thought as well.

With the amount of port begging for titles like Bayonetta 2 and Astral Chain you can sort of see why Platinum want to self publish in the future.

But just because people say they want to play a game on another console doesn’t mean they’ll actually buy it. I think Platinum does tend to make niche games, and no matter how much I love them and how great their quality is, I get the feeling budget to sales numbers are a bit disappointing.

True there is more profit in self publishing, but you also have to take losses.

No one receives investment from China without strings attached. Let's see what Platinum is doing in 2-3 years.

I take it the comments are to be full of boycottPlatinum now then?

@Nintendofan83 Noone recieves investment without strings attached periot. I mean Nintendo's strings were clear. Games like Bayo 2, Bayo 3 and Astral Chain are exclusives for a reason.

Why is Babylon's Fall not coming to Switch? Doesn't look like anything special compared to Astral Chain

Tencent?

So basically, Platinum have just been diagnosed with cancer.

Well publishing like they can setup their own game store? Or just pc publish to epic game store?

@tendonerd self publishing just means that they are not making the game for anyone else. That means they can choose where to bring out the game themselves instead of their investor deciding that.

@Nintendofan83 Let’s be honest, investment is always entirely with strings attached , otherwise there’s no point in the investor even bothering. Whether that’s a share of the profits, console exclusivity or whatever, it’s always something.

@nessisonett part of the profits, console exclusivity and whatnot is all well and expected. If I'd have to guess, what troubles people is more on the lines of censorship.

Never cared for PlatinumGames. My fingers always grow tired of pressing buttons so rapidly. Wish them the best though.

@nessisonett @jowe_gw I should have said hidden strings then. Of course investment comes with expectations. I understand that. I imagine you may see an exclusive game for the Chinese market. In the meantime, read up on China's silk road and other investments they have made around the world. Chinese companies are influenced by the Chinese government and hidden strings always exist.

Rip PlatinumGames. You were great, and would've risen further in the ranks!

But alas, you've now been doomed.

Rest in peace.

@Nintendofan83 I mean, Chinese companies being influenced by the government is kinda the point. That’s the basis on which their ‘Communist’/‘basically capitalist except the government are actively trying to make a profit’ government is based on. It’s not like, y’know the current POTUS isn’t actively interfering in business for his own profit as well. The ties to the Chinese government will be bad news for Chinese citizens though, with all the information games now collect about its players. I’m sure the Chinese government don’t care who I bone or whatever but it can’t be easy for those citizens who’re struggling to maintain some form of human rights amidst every company they know reporting back to the overlords.

well bye bye then, would of much rather micrsoft bought them ,. than the cancer of gaming

This isn’t good news but its not surprising either, I hope this doesn’t in the long run ruin Platinum.

@Nintendofan83 strings are always attached even if only implied

That's what they all said, they have their independence. If Tencent threatened to remove their funding in the future because China objects to what they did - they can only whimper and obey.

As long as no one at Platinum Games mentions Hong Kong they should be fine.

In some future history class when they are explaining why there are no more game consoles and all games are mobile games this will be on the test.

@Pineapple_Mohawk there's also the heavy and often predatory Microtransactions that follow whenever Tencent gets involved with a company.

Scary, scary thing. Let's hope for the best.

@link3710 yes absolutely. When I said censorship, I should have said content/creative control over the developer, much broader and accurate description of what people might be afraid

Here we go again, Tencent buying their way through the entire industry. The good news is Kamiya will just move on and start another studio. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to put up with how Tencent does business. The bad news is, it's about time for Platinum to go the way of Rare, it seems.

Interesting
I wonder what Tencent get out of it

Tencent strikes me as the Disney of the game industry with how often they snap up other studios or buy stakes in them, and...the general response is certainly comparable. This doesn't come across as quite the same, but I hope that it doesn't escalate to that. I haven't played anything from Platinum, but clearly losing them to Tencent would be a big blow to many, as with Nintendo.

@Scottwood101 It looks like Babylon's Fall has Sony dealings, be it timed console exclusive or permanent. We may see it come to Switch and nextbox in a year or so after release.

@tendonerd Read the article.

A Chinese company is a company like a United States or a European or a Japanese company is a company. Don't leave your country's politics propaganda have such a big influence on your perception of how this world works and who's right and who's wrong and who's the friend and who's the enemy.

@Cosats China’s communist, we aren’t. End of story.

@jowe_gw yeah because a Nintendo Swtich exclusive is the same as a company heavly tied to the communist goverment of china that puts Muslims in prision for being Muslim .Look I get some of you are low key socalist but I deeply oppose the results of such a path.By the way Bungie's so called "independence" from Activision came at the price of a huge loan which is even worse since it''s by Netease a "Chiniese" business.Stop comparing the United States and China as if they're equal United States companies unfornutaley or not will act only in their self intrest and don't care generally about the United States as long as thier pockets are filled.China's businesses are at the beck and call obidient to China's will and act in China's communist self intrest.

@Cosats China owns its biggest companies by proxy. So they are essentially a branch of the government.

@Cosats Chinese companies, major ones such as Tencent in particular, are directly tied to the government. The "company" is more or less a front. While arguably no longer a "pure" Communism where technically the government outright directly owns all business, China has softened to more of a Fascist/National Socialist system where there's an appearance of business independence, while still technically being directly coupled to government. Mostly a difference of technicalities.

Make no mistake, when Tencent buys you, the Chinese government buys you. There's no actual separation there, and in Tencent's case, even the illusion of separation is only thinly maintained.

Honestly I hope that means more games for switch. There are a number of games that can run on the switch but we can't have because their publishers say no.

Nintendo should just buy platinum to avoid tencent from ruining a good developer.

And so it begins...

@Cosats

FYI you have 5+ thumb downs, but I'm guessing it's probably around 15-20 in total.

@Scottwood101 Same reason there is still no Nier: Automata on Switch. Because Square Enix is not paying them to make a Switch version.

Isn't this sorta like registering as part of an "Independent" party?

Maybe now Square and PlatinumGames will hopefully release Nier on Switch.

@First_Amendment Read my comment again. Tell me where did I said that it was a good thing or I even mentioned the Chinese goverment. I only said that investment always comes with expectations no matter where the money comes from. You accused me of being a "comunist" for saying that and start explaining how capitalist companies only care about money and "communist" companies are controlled heavily by the goverment. And that is true but... Why did you felt so strongly to tell me that? I didn't even said that this investment was good in any way.

Edit: Also, "comparing the US to China"? I only mentioned Nintendo in my comment and Nintendo is a JAPANIESE COMPANY.

@Nintendofan83 Man... people here get angry quite easily, huh? I just said that investment comes with expectations no matter where the money comes from and people are accusing me of being a communist apperantly? People do love to generalize and only see things black or white on the Internet, huh?

@Cosats By law, every Chinese company need someone from the communist party on the directive board. what you say it might be true for every other country, not for China. please watch this video of you have the time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--nLT7Cu7-w

@suikoden
Seriously, MS would've been one of my last choices for a company to 'invest in' or out-right buy Platinum but MS is 10 trillion times better than Tencent.

@MrGawain I dont think the port begging etc is the main reason. Platinum probably wants control of the IP it develops, which will make it possible for them to explore new monetization approaches and decide the titles they wish to work on. That’s difficult if the IP is owned by Square, Nintendo, Sega, etc and they have to rely on publishers to finance their projects.

Who knows if it’ll work out for them, though

@Nintendofan83 I'm sure that holds true for any company recieving an investment.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

This partnership has no effect on the independence of our company, and we will continue operations under our current corporate structure.

Hopefully (somehow), your word stands true in the coming months and years. Investors rarely provide capital without seeking a specific type of return, and Tencent is part of a political structure that seeks a certain kind of return.

Blood money makes the world go round I guess?