Square Enix and Tencent form strategic alliance

[Nahaara]

https://gematsu.com/2018/08/square-e...tegic-alliance

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ne...f9b62f088.html

Square Enix and Tencent have announced the formation of a strategic alliance that will result in the establishment of a joint-venture company, co-development of AAA titles based on new intellectual properties, the licensing of existing intellectual properties, and more.

I don't like this at all, at minimum it means we'd be possibly seeing a lot more microtransactiony stuff in FFXIV, and at maximum it gives the possibility of SE getting bought out by Tencent and ending up getting trashed. All in all this SE-Tencent alliance is not a good thing in my honest opinion.

[KisaiTenshi]

https://gematsu.com/2018/08/square-e...tegic-alliance

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ne...f9b62f088.html



I don't like this at all, at minimum it means we'd be possibly seeing a lot more microtransactiony stuff in FFXIV, and at maximum it gives the possibility of SE getting bought out by Tencent and ending up getting trashed. All in all this SE-Tencent alliance is not a good thing in my honest opinion.

I hope this only means China, because that's basically how everything works with China, you start up a company to enter China, Chinese company steals your IP, they kick you of the country, and continue to operate whatever the partnership built. Tencent probably wants to be able to access Square-Enix's IP for the Chinese market.

That said, I tencent basically is responsible for WeChat, and hence that App that SE decided to build for FFXIV would be a no-go in China, so I would not surprise if this ends up being one of those things.

Also Tencent owns a minority stake in Blizzard and Ubisoft, and well just look how little that changed things.

[KageTokage]

I think you're severely overestimating how much control Tencent actually has in this kind of arrangement. They've had joint ventures with several other companies like Ubisoft, Capcom, and Blizzard already.

All it likely means is that SE might start publishing games in China, which is extremely dodgy as to how successful it'll be due to how strict their laws are in that regard.

[WhyAmIHere]

Surely only good things can come from this venture for the consumer.
/s

[Fawkes]

Maybe we'll get a PUBG crossover with frying pan weapon glamours. Or a Fortnite crossover with bad dance emotes.

[Galactimus]

The same Tencent that gives you a Score based on how patriotic you are in China.
A bad score reduces your internet speed, loan availability, and lowers the score of anyone else related to you.

Welcome to Sesame Credit run by Tencent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHcTKWiZ8sI

[Liam_Harper]

I don't like this at all, at minimum it means we'd be possibly seeing a lot more microtransactiony stuff in FFXIV

That'd be awful. We'd see crazy things like paying a subscription equal to other mmo's and then on top an extra 5.99 for a worse version of the free WoW mobile app, half your saddlebag locked behind that app, alts locked behind a paywall, about 80% of your potential bank space locked behind a paywall and a cash shop with over 350 items exclusive to it.

Hopefully nothing that bad happens.

[Marxam]

What doesn't Tencent own these days. Definitely the Chinese version of the Rockefeller's a run for their money.

[RiyahArp]

As said above, its probably something to enable a joint release of their mobile games in China. XIV is already in china I think, that's the source of some of the cash shop glamours we have. I wouldn't worry though, Japanese companies definitely wouldn't cede control to in any measure anywhere but China.

[KisaiTenshi]

Well... that didn't last long:

China's Latest Step to Curb Games and Play Wallops Tencent

China’s regulators plan to curtail the number of online games and discourage play-time, part of a broader effort to tackle device addiction and other ills that sent shares reeling from the U.S. to Japan.

...

Or the more click-bait headline:
Tencent lost about $20 billion in market valuation Friday, as Chinese regulators took steps to limit the number of online games and reduce screen time.

I'm just going to shrug. If China decides to reduce or stop games (they do this for movies too), then you know Tencent is going to want to partner harder with foreign publishers so they still have a means of growth while their domestic market collapses.

Not that I think SE would ever license their IP to a foreign company without a mutually benefiting trade. Since Tencent's games primarily are mobile games, it would not be insane to see SE have a game developed by their tencent partnership and published in SE's domestic markets (Eg Japan, US, Europe) and the Chinese partnership puts it out for China-region.