Life Is Strange Dev Dontnod to Create New Franchise After Tencent Purchases Minority Stake

Tencent bought a minority stake in Life Is Strange developer Dontnod to create a new series. The minority purchase cost Tencent 30 million euros, or about $ 36 million, and will be used to fund a new franchise of Dontnod for PCs, consoles and mobile devices. The funding will also be used to allow Dontnod to self-publish what this new game will become.

“The funds raised will be mainly used to finance the ramp-up of Dontnod’s strategy to develop new self-published intellectual properties around the world on PCs, consoles and mobile platforms, and thus take full advantage of the positive trends. industry for international creators renowned and original games, such as Dontnod ”, reads a press release from Dontnod.

Have you played Life is Strange?

YESNO

As for what this new series will be, everyone’s guessing, although one can assume it fits in with the style of games Dontnod has continued to create over the years, such as Life Is Strange. , Tell Me Why and Twin Mirror. These are third-person storytelling games that see the player making choices that affect the outcome of the stories and solving little puzzles along the way.

The Tencent purchase is part of a total capital increase of 40 million euros that goes through an accelerated binding process, according to Dontnod. The studio also announced a “simultaneous signing of a business cooperation agreement with Tencent.”

“We are delighted to welcome Tencent as an investor of Dontnod,” said Oskar Guilbert, Chairman and CEO of Dontnod. “This is a true expression of confidence from a key online gaming leader, who is behind many success stories and has invested in several leading companies in the video game industry. Thanks to this partnership, Dontnod is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the various growth engines of the video game industry, particularly in China and on mobile platforms, in cooperation with a leader in the sector. The capital increase announced today will enable us accelerate and accelerate the deployment of our development plan, which aims to capture more value from our original creators by self-publishing more games. “

Until whatever that new franchise is, check out our thoughts on Dontnod’s latest two games in IGN’s Tell Me Why review and Twin Mirror review. Read this story on a new narrative survival game developed by the new studio of a Dontnod co-founder afterwards.

Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance writer and guide for the IGN. You can follow it on Twitter @LeBlancWes.