Tencent now own majority stake in Don't Starve and Oxygen Not Included creator Klei

This is very worrying. Tencent is directly under control of the CCP. And I used to have a very high amount of respect for Klei, too. But as long as Tencent has a controlling interest, I don't think it's wise to have their software running on my computer. Heck. I wasn't even aware that Klei was publicly traded.

....aaaaand here come the conspiracy theorists...

Well, the other day I was talking with my friends about how studios acquired by Tencent either remain totally unchanged (in the case of well-established properties) or immediately shift into exploitative gacha (the smaller, less famous ones). So I'd say Klei is on the safe, regarding creative autonomy - even safer than it would be with most other studios like Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, 2K or Sony that are famous for meddling with stuff.

Still, always sad when studios are bought out by megacorps.

Well, not getting into the Chinese government issue, but Tencent is very much the masters of predatory monetization. A lot of what is rightly criticized about Fortnite originates from their effective control of the company and let's not even get into their mobile stuff. It would not surprise me a bit if Klei's games started including new and interesting ways to siphon money out of your pocket.

....aaaaand here come the conspiracy theorists...

Don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to be against market concentration. Having a clue about economics is enough.

A lot of what is rightly criticized about Fortnite originates from their effective control of the company

Tencent don't have any "effective control" over Fortnite. They get a say, sure, but others in the Board of Directors can Veto, which is the furthest thing from effective control as you can get.

....aaaaand here come the conspiracy theorists...

Don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to be against market concentration. Having a clue about economics is enough.

I don't believe that was what Dribbleondo was referring to, given that their post was directly under one talking about the Chinese Communist Party.
I'm also generally not happy when big companies swallow little ones, especially if they do it a lot. I couldn't really care less if the company doing the swallowing happens to be Chinese, though.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 22 January 2021 at 11:13 pm UTC

The better conspiracy theory is Tencent == Epic investor == force all Klei games to be EGS exclusive == no more linux.

The better conspiracy theory is Tencent == Epic investor == force all Klei games to be EGS exclusive == no more linux.

Probably not all, but the next release - very likely.

I was going to say " 'China Bad!' screechers in 3... 2... 1..." but it appears I am too late.
Oh, well.

Well, not getting into the Chinese government issue, but Tencent is very much the masters of predatory monetization.

I'm not worried about the Chinese government at all, but that part is indeed something I'd see as very worrying - and that would be the same if EA had acquired them.
We'll see just how quickly Klei turns from industry darling to something else entirely now.
Just shows that anyone can be bought for the right price.

I wonder at what day I wake up only to learn the flat that I live in has been acquired by Tencent that demands daily lootboxes opening for continue of the service...


Last edited by rea987 on 23 January 2021 at 2:37 pm UTC

Tell me about one game that went worse because of Tencent.

Rocket League lost Linux support. Period.

Tencent was already huge but mostly in China, they sure are expanding to the "west" the last few years

Tell me about one game that went worse because of Tencent.
A month ago they bought the Warframe company, are they putting some communist message in it with an update?
Tencent, and chinese companies, can buy a lot of enterprises because China is the best economy, growing like no one. If you don't like it you should change your own governments so you can compete with China, just like they did 50 years ago.
Market socialism is beating liberal capitalism, grow up and deal with it.

From my understanding of that, it comes from China having the highest concentration of rare metals in the world. The ones that are used in all of our electronics. So a mix of luck and technology is what is making their economy boom. Everyone else is just kind of screwed. It is the same sort of thing with oil and the middle east.

Rocket League lost Linux support. Period.

The question was about games that got worse because of Tencent.
Do you really believe Epic would have done anything different if they had acquired Psyonix without Tencent?

Anyway, I think this was more about games that became worse on a design level, with a sudden influx of MTX, etc.
A game losing support for a platform doesn't make the game itself any worse. Just like having Linux support on its own doesn't make any game any better.

About Klei, sure they support Linux, but...
Don't forget that recently their DRM-Free build doesn't have the same love.
Oxygen Not Included is not on GOG, and Mark of the Ninja: Remastered doesn't have Linux/mac builds there.
And about Griftlands it doesn't sound good either...

Tell me about one game that went worse because of Tencent.
A month ago they bought the Warframe company, are they putting some communist message in it with an update?
Tencent, and chinese companies, can buy a lot of enterprises because China is the best economy, growing like no one. If you don't like it you should change your own governments so you can compete with China, just like they did 50 years ago.
Market socialism is beating liberal capitalism, grow up and deal with it.

From my understanding of that, it comes from China having the highest concentration of rare metals in the world. The ones that are used in all of our electronics. So a mix of luck and technology is what is making their economy boom. Everyone else is just kind of screwed. It is the same sort of thing with oil and the middle east.

I don't think that's the case. For one thing, very few countries ever find that having a ton of raw materials makes their economy boom. It takes an amazing amount of planning and resolve as well as some luck and muscle. Take oil--out of all the countries with a bunch of oil, how many have actually managed to use it to help build a prosperous, broad-based economy? Well, there's Norway. Anyone else?
Most countries with serious resources, foreigners just come and steal them. If they insist that the resources belong to them, their governments get destabilized or they get sanctioned. Or, if they cut some kind of deal with dominant countries to let them keep the stuff, it ends up just distorting their economy so it depends on oil rent and is otherwise totally inefficient and barely there--the Saudi Arabia route. You mentioned the Middle East, but the only country in the Middle East you could even consider calling an economic powerhouse has no oil (Israel). Plus, resource economies are prone to booms and busts. So if China has managed to use the presence of those rare metals to actually build their economy, that in itself points to a kind of acumen found in very few countries.

But also, China's rise started before most of those rare metals became important, so I don't see how they could have been the cause. And I don't think it's reasonable overall to call China a resource-rich country.

Technology, sure--but how did they get the technology? The Chinese government decided it was important to get technology and they, first, insisted on technology transfers as a condition of doing business and, second, built tons and tons of educational institutions. Saying China is doing well because China has technology is kind of like saying China is doing well because China has infrastructure--those kinds of things don't drop from the sky, they built them. My country could too but we're too hypnotized by markets.

Tell me about one game that went worse because of Tencent.
A month ago they bought the Warframe company, are they putting some communist message in it with an update?
Tencent, and chinese companies, can buy a lot of enterprises because China is the best economy, growing like no one. If you don't like it you should change your own governments so you can compete with China, just like they did 50 years ago.
Market socialism is beating liberal capitalism, grow up and deal with it.

From my understanding of that, it comes from China having the highest concentration of rare metals in the world. The ones that are used in all of our electronics. So a mix of luck and technology is what is making their economy boom. Everyone else is just kind of screwed. It is the same sort of thing with oil and the middle east.

I don't think that's the case. For one thing, very few countries ever find that having a ton of raw materials makes their economy boom. It takes an amazing amount of planning and resolve as well as some luck and muscle. Take oil--out of all the countries with a bunch of oil, how many have actually managed to use it to help build a prosperous, broad-based economy? Well, there's Norway. Anyone else?
Most countries with serious resources, foreigners just come and steal them. If they insist that the resources belong to them, their governments get destabilized or they get sanctioned. Or, if they cut some kind of deal with dominant countries to let them keep the stuff, it ends up just distorting their economy so it depends on oil rent and is otherwise totally inefficient and barely there--the Saudi Arabia route. You mentioned the Middle East, but the only country in the Middle East you could even consider calling an economic powerhouse has no oil (Israel). Plus, resource economies are prone to booms and busts. So if China has managed to use the presence of those rare metals to actually build their economy, that in itself points to a kind of acumen found in very few countries.

But also, China's rise started before most of those rare metals became important, so I don't see how they could have been the cause. And I don't think it's reasonable overall to call China a resource-rich country.

Technology, sure--but how did they get the technology? The Chinese government decided it was important to get technology and they, first, insisted on technology transfers as a condition of doing business and, second, built tons and tons of educational institutions. Saying China is doing well because China has technology is kind of like saying China is doing well because China has infrastructure--those kinds of things don't drop from the sky, they built them. My country could too but we're too hypnotized by markets.

The difference between China and the oil countries that were mostly robbed is that China isn't constantly at war with itself. Also they have a huge populous, so once those resources were known to be valuable in the 60s, and with that large work force, they can mine the hell out of everything. I'll have to find the video I saw that was talking about it, as I personally don't really have the knowledge to debate it at all, I just thought it was an interesting bit of information.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDwIc-plsYQ I mean here's one of many.

Tell me about one game that went worse because of Tencent.
A month ago they bought the Warframe company, are they putting some communist message in it with an update?
Tencent, and chinese companies, can buy a lot of enterprises because China is the best economy, growing like no one. If you don't like it you should change your own governments so you can compete with China, just like they did 50 years ago.
Market socialism is beating liberal capitalism, grow up and deal with it.

From my understanding of that, it comes from China having the highest concentration of rare metals in the world. The ones that are used in all of our electronics. So a mix of luck and technology is what is making their economy boom. Everyone else is just kind of screwed. It is the same sort of thing with oil and the middle east.

It not that they have the highest concentration of rare-earth, is that they don't mind destroying their environment to do it cheaply.

Tell me about one game that went worse because of Tencent.
A month ago they bought the Warframe company, are they putting some communist message in it with an update?
Tencent, and chinese companies, can buy a lot of enterprises because China is the best economy, growing like no one. If you don't like it you should change your own governments so you can compete with China, just like they did 50 years ago.
Market socialism is beating liberal capitalism, grow up and deal with it.

From my understanding of that, it comes from China having the highest concentration of rare metals in the world. The ones that are used in all of our electronics. So a mix of luck and technology is what is making their economy boom. Everyone else is just kind of screwed. It is the same sort of thing with oil and the middle east.

It not that they have the highest concentration of rare-earth, is that they don't mind destroying their environment to do it cheaply.

Yeah, I mean I just didn't want to be the one to say it.