Tencent acquires parent company Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios

Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent has acquired Slamfire, the parent company of Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios. The game studio will continue to ‘operate independently’. It is not known what amount Tencent Holdings had to pay for the companies.

Despite the acquisition, the Back 4 Blood franchise must continue to exist, Turtle Rock Studios assures in a blog post. Co-founders Phil Robb and Chris Ashton also remain in charge of the studio. Under Tencent, the American company wants to turn the Back 4 Blood universe into an “AAA franchise that will last.”

Turtle Rock Studios was an independent game studio until its acquisition by Tencent. In October, the company released Back 4 Blood as a spiritual successor to the Left 4 Dead franchise, which Turtle Rock under then parent company Valve was responsible for. During the same period, the studio worked on Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

Tencent is one of the most profitable companies in the world and has a majority stake in several major players in the game industry. The conglomerate is wholly owned by League of Legends creator Riot Games, Call of Duty: Mobile developer TiMi Studio Group, and the parent company of Splash Damage, creator of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Gear 5 and Halo: The Master Chief. Collection. Epic Games, Bluehole Studio, Bohemia Interactive and Klein Entertainment are also partly or even largely from Tencent. In addition to its significant influence within the game industry, the company is also controversial for alleged conspiracies with the Chinese government.