Tencent's Next Acquisition Could Be MMO Developer Funcom

Tencent, the colossal Chinese holdings company, is looking to acquire "full ownership" of Funcom in a proposed $148M deal that will see Tencent further develop as the world's largest games company.

Funcom, known for MMOs such as Anarchy Online, Age of Conan and the upcoming Dune game, is welcoming the acquisition. Rui Casais, Funcom CEO, assures the public that the deal won't affect any of their games, management, staffing or structure: they'll "continue to develop great games that people all over the world will play".

Alongside the announcement of this deal, Funcom gave an update on the state of the to-be-released Dune game. It plans to divert resources from other projects and potentially request "additional financing" to create a more ambitious game with an expanded scope.

Tencent currently owns 29% of Funcom's shares, as well as varying amounts of shares in Epic Games, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Supercell, Riot Games, Discord and many others. As the months go by, it seems as if the entire gaming industry is being swallowed up by Tencent. It's an uneasy feeling, and one that isn't likely to subside anytime soon.