Tencent buys 15.75% stake in Helldivers 2 dev Arrowhead

Tencent, a Chinese multimedia corporation with significant investments in the gaming sector, recently purchased a minority stake in Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios, according to a recent report from the Swedish publication Dagens Industri (DI).

In July 2024, the conglomerate paid nearly $83 million for 15.75% of the Stockholm-based studio’s shares, according to the report. Arrowhead’s total value was estimated to be around SEK 5.1 billion ($532 million). Interestingly, the developer’s founding executives own the remaining shares.

Additionally, it was disclosed that Arrowhead made SEK 959 million ($100 million) in 2024, with SEK 729 million ($76 million) coming from operations. The $40 cooperative multiplayer shooter Helldivers 2 became the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game ever, sold 12 million copies in three months, and is still a popular game on Windows PC and PS5 more than a year after its release.

Johan Pilestedt, the former CEO and co-founder of Arrowhead, made some remarks regarding Tencent’s minority acquisition, stating that the investment will help the developer do well in the Chinese gaming market.

“Getting access to the Chinese player base is the holy grail in the gaming industry,” he stated. “They can give us enormous economic leverage.”

The extent of Tencent’s engagement with Arrowhead and its games is currently unknown. On the Helldivers Discord server, the studio recently stated that its next game will not be published by PlayStation and that it is “100% funded by ourselves so we’ll call 100% of those shots.” This is an important point to note, though.

Additionally noteworthy is the sizeable and fervent Chinese community that Helldivers 2 has drawn. In the Battle for Super Earth, Chinese players were instrumental in protecting the city of Equality-on-Sea, which is situated in the game’s fictional China, from the Illuminate. Earlier this week, the event was covered by a social media post from the US embassy in China.

Notably, Tencent’s acquisition last year was announced just over two months after a reported collaboration between Tencent and Ubisoft materialized, in which the French publisher sold Tencent a 25% stake and established a new division for its Rainbow Six, Far Cry, and Assassin’s Creed franchises. The action was mostly interpreted as a part of Ubisoft’s attempts to bounce back from a string of poor releases in the previous years.