Tencent has Invested in Grinding Gear Games

It's been a great journey. Zsolla and Tencent should get along well.

I'm agnostic on this. I used to run a software product team in China, for online services in China (for an American software company), so I'm relatively familiar with some of the Chinese dynamics (although that was a decade ago, way before the current President Xi, who has taken China into an unfortunately bad autocratic/dictatorial direction).

My biggest question is "what does GGG get out of this?". A payout? Additional investment so that you can accomplish things you couldn't otherwise?

My guess is this is some sort of payout/financial security given to you by a company that seemingly will not interfere. I understand that, I really do. But it really does open up the "well then why should we financially buy supporter packs anymore" conversations.

But knowing Tencent as I do, I imagine they will win us over with tons and tons of super cool micro-transactions that actually make us WANT to buy (i.e., we'll go from a philosophy of supporting because we want to support you guys, to one of being "I want that kick-ass look").

So it goes.

Hey, i'll help with the design of upcoming MTX!

- Scholar's glasses [100 points]:
Minimap is fully visible at all times

- Super-stash-tab [50 points]:
Regular stash tab with 10 chaos orbs inside

- Time-travellers amulet [200 points]:
Can enter new league 12 hours before anyone else

- Chris wilson's cat [150 points]:
Follows you around, makes false promises, drops a chaos orb every 10 minutes

- Supreme wisdom scroll [300 points]:
All items drop identified

...........

Relax guys, what happens to the boat is up to the captain.

Its all over red rover GG GGG thanks for the good times

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deMoxE wrote:

Relax guys, what happens to the boat is up to the captain.

But now they have a new captain and this captain likes to sink the fucking boat

Well I guess that's the last badge for me for now. I supported an indie company with good content. I'll wait until it's proven that this game doesn't change due to tencent before I spend anymore money on it.

"

鬼殺し wrote:

I just shared the news with my GF, who has also met Chris and his, and it's fair to say we think the world of the Wilsons. And yknow, if this is the payday, so be it. If this is what it takes for Chris and co to take a break for once, to reap the rewards, I can't begrudge them that.

But I'm getting epic Garena flashbacks right now, and I'm thinking of just how soulless Tencent is as a company...and I just don't see this going well. Either we were played by GGG in supporting them as a local NZ company or GGG is being played by Tencent with the whole 'you will retain all control' spiel, which NO ONE is buying here. Neither is nice to contemplate, but I sure as hell hope it's the former. I really do.

It is likely that this will be a big payday for Chris and the other owners. They did work hard for it. Most game start ups have an exit strategy that includes being bought.

Since Tencent is planning to go public this year, buying GGG now will probably add to its IPO pricing. A couple of dollars per share difference could easily pay for the buyout.

I suspect that we won't see any changes to POE in 2018 unless Tencent replaces Chris.

I did just buy an Incursion supporter pack; I kinda wish I hadn't now.

I can't imagine that Tencent will continue the same business model GGG has used. They will want growth in users and profitability with fewer upgrades and expansions.

My guesses include:

2018: not too much change, maybe server improvements
2019: one less league or upgrade; same or higher prices for mtx; staff changes begin

When Tencent goes public, GGG financials should go public too.

As long as the game stays fun and interesting, I'll keep playing, but it won't feel the same.

RIP atleast we will have an AH soon xd