Tencent, which is already the world"s largest gaming company as well as the fifth largest by market value, has managed to secure exclusive rights to PlayerUnknown"s Battlegrounds (PUBG) in China.
Even though the game doesn"t have an official publisher in China yet, over 40% of its players are reportedly Chinese. Tencent will be in charge of running the servers and navigating the country"s regulations, but will also deal with anyone cheating in the game. This might come as good news to many players; as it is currently reported that cheating in the game is a major issue with many of them originating from China; as the below tweet from anti-cheating company BattlEye tasked with policing the game shows.
PUBG is one of the most widely played games currently on Steam, often competing for the top spot with Dota 2. It is not yet clear whether players in China will have to repurchase the game and move from Steam to the rival platform WeGame offered by Tencent.
The granting of the exclusive publisher rights in China to Tencent has come after a period of direct negotiations with the developers but there were even some rumors that the game might be banned in China due to its violent nature. There is also some speculation that Tencent still wants to purchase Bluehole or PUBG Corp., the companies behind the game. All of that might not be necessary as Tencent has now managed to secure exclusivity of one of the world"s most popular games in the world"s largest gaming market.
Source: VentureBeat