Riot Games owner has a 40 per cent stake in Epic Games

The parent company of League of Legends creators, Riot Games, Tencent, now owns a 40 per cent stake in Epic Games after its $330 million buy up of shares last year, giving it the chance to add a couple of its own executives to the Unreal developer's board.

These are likely positions that were once filled by the well worn boots of Epic Games higher ups Cliff Blezinski and Mike Capps, two of the biggest and most vocal studio execs in the industry. Rod Ferguson also moved on last year to help Irrational finish up Bioshock Infinite.

“In June 2012, Tencent made a minority investment in Epic Games, purchasing approximately 48.4 percent of outstanding shares of Epic stock, equating to 40 percent of total Epic capital inclusive of both stock and employee stock options,” Epic’s Tim Sweeney said while speaking with Polygon.

“As part of the investment, two Tencent representatives joined Epic's board of directors, in addition to the three directors and two observers appointed by Epic. We're thrilled to have a world-leading partner in Tencent, who gives Epic unique access to the Chinese market as we head into the next chapter of our 21-year history as a leading independent developer.”

KitGuru Says: Along with its ownership of Riot Games, Tencent is a power house in gaming at this point. Epic's engine tech is going to see a lot of usage in the next-gen if the previous one was anything to go by, so Tencent is poised to make a killing on those share purchases.

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