Klei Entertainment has insisted it “retains full autonomy” after Tencent bought a majority stake in the company.
Klei, best-known for its enormously popular gothic survival adventure Don’t Starve, said it remains in control of creative and operations across all aspects of the studio, including projects, talent and more.
The Tencent purchases means “there are some boring accounting changes that we will need to adjust to”, Klei founder Jamie Cheng said in a post on the studio’s forum, but other than that, “I will continue running the studio as before, with no changes to staffing, projects or other operations.”
“This partnership helps us navigate a changing industry, and helps us focus on what we do best: making unique experiences that no one else can,” Cheng added.
Tencent is the world’s largest video game company in terms of revenue, with significant stakes in a number of western video game publishers, such as League of Legends maker Riot, Clash of Clans studio Supercell, and Fortnite developer Epic Games.