Seems like the kind of thing that will go over really poorly with people who only read headlines. This reads a lot more like "We're just making a previous unofficial partnership official now" than...
Seems like the kind of thing that will go over really poorly with people who only read headlines.
What will change?
There are some boring accounting changes that we will need to adjust to. Other than that, I will continue running the studio as before, with no changes to staffing, projects or other operations.
Why Tencent?
We looked at a lot of different companies, and over the years, we’ve worked with a large number of publishers and distributors. Tencent is the only company that we felt would let us retain the level of control that we demand. We’ve been working with Tencent for years and even at points where we disagreed, they were always willing to work with us to find the best solution for everybody involved and defer to us when we felt strongly.
Will the IP stay with you?
We're still going to be managing all the IP that Klei creates. If anything, Tencent has shown real respect to us and consistently deferred to us in what and how to present our work, which is one of the reasons we chose them as our partner.
This reads a lot more like "We're just making a previous unofficial partnership official now" than "We're getting bought out". If anything, the guy running the place seems like the type of person to leave if Tencent wants too much creative control.
The thing is, unless that ownership comes with explicit contractual language enforcing internal control of Klei's affairs, none of these assurances at the moment of acquisition mean anything. Just...
The thing is, unless that ownership comes with explicit contractual language enforcing internal control of Klei's affairs, none of these assurances at the moment of acquisition mean anything. Just look at the recent binding of the Oculus to Facebook login. When it was acquired the previous owner made all sorts of guarantees that it would stay independent of the Facebook ecosystem forever, but once he sold, he had no power to enforce his statements. With every acquisition we're assured that nothing will change, and that only remains true until the new owner (who has all of the actual power) decides that it's time to change things up.
Seems like the kind of thing that will go over really poorly with people who only read headlines.
This reads a lot more like "We're just making a previous unofficial partnership official now" than "We're getting bought out". If anything, the guy running the place seems like the type of person to leave if Tencent wants too much creative control.
The thing is, unless that ownership comes with explicit contractual language enforcing internal control of Klei's affairs, none of these assurances at the moment of acquisition mean anything. Just look at the recent binding of the Oculus to Facebook login. When it was acquired the previous owner made all sorts of guarantees that it would stay independent of the Facebook ecosystem forever, but once he sold, he had no power to enforce his statements. With every acquisition we're assured that nothing will change, and that only remains true until the new owner (who has all of the actual power) decides that it's time to change things up.
After that headline, I don't believe a word of PR.