Tencent Buys Majority Stake in Path Of Exile Developer Grinding Gear Games

The Chinese gaming juggernaut Tencent has acquired a majority stake in New Zealand based Grinding Gear Games, best known as the studio behind the Action-RPG Path of Exile.

Tencent now owns 80% of Grinding Gear Games, but no dollar figures were released. We'll likely get those numbers during Tencent's next earnings report. In the mean time, GGG says Tecent's invest will not effect the independence of the studio. So far, Tencent has been a good steward of the gaming studios it has purchased or invested in. Tencent owns Riot Games and Supercell, the mobile studio behind Clash of Clans and Clash Royale. Tencent also has a 40% minority stake in Fortnite developer Epic Games.

Grinding Gear Games managing Director Chris Wilson states the some of the funds made available will be used to expand studio from 114 to 130 full time employees. Many more expansions are planned for Path of Exile which first entered open beta back in 2013. A major update, dubbed 4.0.0 is scheduled to enter beta testing by early 2020.

Path of Exile offers one of the best implementations of the free to play model. Besides cosmetics, the only advantage paying players receive is additional storage space in their stash. The game has grown in popularity each year since its release and is still seeing double digit growth in its playerbase.

Further Reading: New Zealand Herald Coverage