Tencent has Invested in Grinding Gear Games

We all expected this. I hope it doesn't screw up the game. Chris' statements don't mean much. Tencent owns the game now and they can fire him or make him do what they feel is best for them.

John Carmack reassured everyone that the Zenimax acquisition wouldn't change anything at id. We all know how that turned out.

I've been on the end of getting bought by new owners multiple times. Unfortunately they always say nothing will change and that couldn't be further from the truth. New owners = new priorities for the business. Don't fool yourself in thinking the 20% stake that remains has any voice. This is how it normally works, it's to keep the previous owners there for some period of time. After a few years usually the previous owners almost always have completely divested their remaining equity.

The real question is will the change be for the better or for the worse...only time will tell. Congrats to the founders as they deserve to cash out while GGG has a high valuation. I don't blame them one bit.

For me though, I won't be spending any more money on this game for my own personal reasons.

Guys, effin WAKE UP !

The GGG leads are not the poor guys who needed your permanent and multiple support to make GGG and PoE survive - that was probably your illusion but not the reality - what you all supported in the end was their personal wealth and that they cashed out now with the Tencent deal - $$$ - selling the majority of a well running company to a chinese money power consortium only shows this:

PERSONAL GREED

I know many here are angry because no one saw this coming but learn from it: Next time think twice, triple and fourth before you believe in miracles like "that poor indie company that needs my support" - what really happend is you, the players, totally overloaded the boat with money and that made it SO interesting for chinese investors that they couldnt resist to make an incredible offer to what GGG leads also couldnt resist.

Companys like Tencent dont invest in stuff that doesnt return huge revenue - they will make changes - not directly, but slowly - just wait and wonder; no matter what Chris or whomever else of the GGG leads tell ya or wants to make ya believe. GGG is now the companys hand but not the brain and decision executive anymore.

My ten cent; and enjoy your new ferraris @GGG leads - i hope theyve been worth giving up the company control of your former "dream". ^^

Apparently the love and support of PoE's community was worth less than Tencents $$$.

Selling 80% and claiming to stay independent also sounds like a very cheap story that is not being told to anyobody you respect.

What a shame. I really enjoyed the entire phenomenon of this game.

I've never given money to GGG because they were poor starving developers and they needed my charity.

I gave them money because I enjoyed the hell out of the game and appreciated the way they interacted with their community.

None of that has changed. Well, OK, Bestiary was a disappointment but all relationships have bumps in the road.

Did Tencent invest in GGG because it has a good prospect of profit and ROI? Of course they did, that's what all investors want, whether they are venture capitalists, general share holder or mega-corporations.

Did GGG benefit from this? You bet it did. Not only did the owners see a reward but the company has the support of a corporation that has a track record of delivering success. Is it bad that GGG would be successful in China, is it bad they would receive funding to improve the game beyond their existing financial means, is it bad that they can continue to grow and develop other products?

One thing I have noted throughout this impassioned discussion is the Boolean approach taken by most contributors. Change can only mean either it's all good or it's all bad. That's a nice simplistic approach but not reflective of the complexity of the world.

Was GGG destined to be great forever as they were? Can they be great forever in their new structure? Will there be another GFC soon, nuclear war with North Korea, will obesity shorten our lives? That's a lot of maybes going on.

People have said they trusted Chris and the team for years, so why not trust them now and believe that they are pursuing the best possible option for the game? Nobody but they know the full extent of the company or the details of the deal arranged so why not continue to trust in their judgement, after all it has gotten all of us this far.

Change isnt innately bad and is often good.

If everyone here stops buying mtx, then the game becomes P2Play which honestly I would be fine with.

Some people were spending a lot of money on supporter packs and MTX but most of us (yes including me) were getting a AAA title for very little money. I have played a constantly evolving game for over 2 years with tons of new content and expansions for about 100$ US.That is a goddamn steal. I suspect most of the people who play the game are like me. With tencent investment, I suspect we will see MTX prices to go down and for them to adopt an acquisition model. Everyone leaving is just reinforcing that decision as a retention model will not apparently work. If the acquisition model doesnt pay the bills, then I would expect and hope we move to a monthly fee model.

I totally understand why people are concerned and upset and support each of you doing what you think is right. If you decide to leave because you think the game is immediately worse with foreign investment and dont wait and see, you are contributing to the changes you assume are coming.

If this is reason enough to leave, please do so. Understand that you cant affect the future of this game by quitting.

Rei

All done!

Its amazing to me that so many people think that coming up with an idea, building the product/service, assuming the financial risk to launch it, working hard through the iteration process and building a loyal following is noble but selling it to get a return on your MASSIVE risk and investment is somehow Greedy.

I can understand all of the concerns, but how can you be mad at GGG? Why is taking 50$ from you to show support noble but taking what I expect is in excess of $50 million (and could be way way more) some how selling out?

Change isnt innately bad

Any dealings with the Chinese on any level is a risk I am not willing to take.

Don't expect anymore purchases from me.

I'm done.

What we DO know
===============
1. After every acquisition the CEO of the acquired company makes an announcement saying that nothing will change
2. Things always change

What we DON'T know
==================
1. The extant and direction of those changes

P.S. I find it very suspicious that GGG chose not to promote this announcement on the game client. I guess microtransaction sales were more important. I found out about this through a non-gaming site (i.e. accidentally).