The world’s largest gaming company is acquiring another game developer. Tencent announced a voluntary cash offer to acquire the remaining shares of Norwegian developer Funcom.
Tencent already owns nearly a third of the shares in the company. It’s also a leading shareholder Epic Games, Frontier, Paradox Interactive, Riot Games, and Ubisoft. According to a news release, Funcom’s leadership welcomes the planned takeover.
“We have had a great relationship with Tencent as our largest shareholder so far and we are excited about this opportunity,” says Funcom CEO Rui Casais.
Currently, Funcom is a publicly-traded company. Tencent is seeking to buy all remaining shares at 17 Norweigian krone per share. That’s roughly 27 percent higher than yesterday’s closing price on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
Funcom says that “there are no planned changes to Funcom management, staffing, or structure” and that “the company [is] set to remain an independent business.” They say that they will continue to support Conan Exiles, Secret World Legends, Age of Conan, and Anarchy Online.
For 2020, Funcom is planning to release at least one game based on Frank Herbert’s Dune. It is expected to be an open-world multiplayer survival game. No specific release date or platforms have been announced.
