Tencent’s stakes in varied American video corporations could possibly be in danger, as US President Donald Trump’s administration is debating whether or not the Chinese language firm’s funding poses a safety danger.
Based on The Financial Times and Reuters, “a number of folks acquainted with the inner deliberations” are assessing Tencent’s investments forward of Trump’s upcoming assembly with Chinese language President Xi Jinping subsequent month. The FT’s sources added that Tencent has been negotiating with the US administration’s Committee on Overseas Funding for years now, however the acquisition of Conflict of Clans studio Supercell–which has an enormous US userbase–reignited fears surrounding the corporate.
Tencent is well-known for having invested in lots of online game corporations the world over, together with a 28% stake in Fortnite-maker Epic Video games. It additionally owns Riot Video games (League of Legends and Valorant) and has stakes in different notable online game corporations like From Software program, Krafton, Larian Studios, and Ubisoft.
This scrutiny from the US authorities began with former US president Joe Biden’s administration, as issues had been raised relating to the gathering of personal data from hundreds of thousands of US residents and Tencent’s ties to the Chinese language navy. “These platforms might function a big intelligence assortment supply,” former Biden official Chris McGuire stated to the FT. In early 2025, Tencent was one among a number of corporations that had been blacklisted by the US Protection Division after it was accused of being Chinese language military-affiliated.
Tencent has been within the information incessantly as of late, and the information hasn’t been too optimistic. The megacorp was reportedly the “lead monetary backer” of the doomed live-service recreation Highguard, and just lately, Sony settled a lawsuit towards Tencent over Mild of Motiram, a recreation that it described as a “slavish clone” of the Horizon franchise.