In the biggest ever purchase of a mobile games maker, China’s Tencent Holdings is buying a majority stake in Finnish game developer Supercell, maker of hit mobile game Clash of Clans from SoftBank Group for $8.6B. Tencent, a major investor and player in the areas of communication, information, entertainment, e-commerce, makes a significant portion of its revenue from the sale of virtual goods in MMOs, instant messengers, and social networking sites. In light of its latest purchase the biggest ever for Tencent, we’ve listed notable investments and acquisitions in gaming made by China’s biggest gaming group.
Tencent’s Acquisitions in Gaming
Supercell’s acquisition is the largest acquisition made by Tencent in gaming, eclipsing its acquisition of Riot Games in 2015. Four of Tencent’s game acquisitions were made overseas – two in Europe, and two in the USA.
| SNo. | Company Name | About | Location | Acquired Amount | Acquired Date |
| 1 | Riot Games | Video game developer and publisher | San Francisco, California,United States | $231M | 15 Dec- 2015 |
| 2 | Supercell | Mobile Game developer specializing in Mid-core games | Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland | $8.6B | 22 Jun- 2016 |
| 3 | Miniclip | Video Game developer and publisher focusing on Web and Mobile Games | Switzerland | Undisclosed | 19 Feb- 2015 |
| 4 | Zam | Online gaming media site | Los Angeles, California, United States | 01 Feb- 2012 | |
| 5 | Horizon3D | 3D game developer | Beijing, China | $1.5M | 23 Jan- 2008 |
Tencent’s Investments in Gaming
Tencent has made prolific investments in developers of mobile games, social games, VR and eSports. Ten of Tencent’s investments in gaming have had exits – nine companies including Riot Games were acquired. Shenzhen-based iDreamSky managed an exit through an IPO in 2014.
| Company Name | About | Company Status | Location | Total Funding (USD) |
| Garena | Mobile entertainment and communication | Singapore | $172M | |
| Riot Games | Video game developer and publisher | ACQUIRED (tencent.com, 2015/12/15) | San Francisco | $15M |
| iDreamSky | Mobile games developer and publisher | IPO (DSKY, 2014/08/06) | Shenzhen | $27M |
| Netmarble Games Corporation | Game development company | Seoul | 533M | |
| Pocket Gems | Mobile Game Developer focusing on Mid-Core games | San Francisco | $65M | |
| ELEX | Social Games developer targeting mobile and browser platforms | ACQUIRED (jxpp.com, $430.0M, 2014/6/1) | Beijing | $3M |
| Kamcord | Web/Mobile platform to record and share mobile gameplays | San Francisco | $34.77M | |
| Plain Vanilla Games | Mobile Game Developer specializing in Trivia based games | Reykjavik | $39.9M | |
| Aiming Inc | Mobile game development company. | Tokyo | $26.9M | |
| Playdots Inc. | Mobile Game developer focusing on Casual Games | New York City | $9.6M | |
| This Means WAR! | Mobile Game Developer focusing on Mid-Core games | ACQUIRED (kabam.com, 2015/01/13) | Los Angeles | $18M |
| AltspaceVR | Social platform for virtual reality | Redwood City | $15.6M | |
| Douyu | Online live streaming of games and e-sports | Wuhan | $100M | |
| Epic Games | Cross platform game engine and game developer | Cary | $330M | |
| Artillery | eSport game development studio | Palo Alto | $250,000 | |
| DouyuTv | Chinese Online Game Video Streaming Platform | Wuhan | $100M | |
| VC Mobile Entertainment, Inc. | VC Mobile Entertainment | Los Angeles | $4.5M | |
| Aipai | Online video sharing platform targeted at gamers | Guangzhou | $38M | |
| Discord | Voice and Text chat software for gamers developed by Hammer & Chisel | San Francisco | $22M | |
| Activision Blizzard | Game developer and publisher. | IPO (ATVI, 28.52B) | Santa Monica | |
| LongTu Game | Developer and distributor of web and mobile games | Beijing | $33M | |
| 175game | Operates a game studio that develops PC Client, web-based and mobile games | Guangzhou | $24.2M | |
| SZdomain | Game development company | Shenzhen | $21.9M | |
| Outspark | Video Game publisher focusing on MMORPGs | ACQUIRED (gamigo.com, – 2013/2/8) | San Francisco | $23.2M |
| Colg | Online portal for gaming related content and a forum for gamers | Fuzhou | $1.5M | |
| Artillery Games | Video game developer | Palo Alto | $2.5M | |
| Sincetimes | Developer of web and mobile and social network games | Beijing | ||
| CARBON EYED | Mobile game development studio. | Gyeongju | ||
| Appgame | Online portal for gaming related content | Guangzhou | ||
| Longzhu | Chinese eSports live streaming platform | Shanghai | ||
| 5agame | Mobile gaming studio | ACQUIRED (gdalpha.com, $60.0M, 2013/10/1) | Beijing | |
| Blingstorm | Mobile gaming studio | ACQUIRED (ourpalm.com, 2015/02/15) | Beijing | |
| Yile.com | Developer of web-based and mobile games | Shanghai | ||
| Small Tech | Mobile gaming studio | ACQUIRED (zqgame.com, 2013/8/1) | Shenzhen | |
| Yinhan Games | Web and mobile game developer | ACQUIRED (huayimedia.com, $110.0M, 2013/7/1) | Guangzhou | |
| Gameley | Mobile games developer | Beijing | ||
| Huayi game | Online and mobile games developer | Beijing | ||
| 91kge | Web-based games developer | Hangzhou | ||
| Moogame | Mobile game developer | Beijing | ||
| Aldgame | Mobile game developers | Beijing | ||
| Jingle | Developer of mobile and browser enabled games | Shanghai | ||
| Hakuna Games | Mobile gaming studio | Beijing | ||
| Astepgame | Mobile gaming studio | Beijing | ||
| Oohhoo | Mobile gaming studio | Shanghai | ||
| Mob Arts | Mobile gaming studio | ACQUIRED (qunxingtoys.com, $232.0M, 2014/07/01) | Beijing |
Also check out our infograph, which analyses Alibaba’s acquisition strategy.