Equity means that Tencent own part of EHG, low equity means it’s a “small” part how small is unknown.
Edit: And by “small part” I’d say that it’s a non-controlling stake, less than 50% so Tencent wouldn’t be able to “force” EHG into doing anything by dint of having a controlling stake.
Ok guys, honestly i think everyone is over reacting. Not that tencent being an investor isn’t a concern and i understand that. So far history with EHG has been open and honest with us the community members. I do not support tencent just like most of you responding. But EHG doesn’t deserve hate or disrespect in their decision to do this. As Judd stated they held out along time to keep controlling interest in their favor. I sincerely love this company(EHG) and it has been like an extended family. With that being said to the community i request no one to harass them about this decision and lets not over-react and lets see where this takes us as a family.
I completely understand that this would be a major concern for the community but I want to assure you that there is zero pressure on any content releases from the agreement we have with Tencent. This is the type of deal structure I was hoping that we would be able to procure as it solely bolsters the studio’s resources
My excitement and interest for Last Epoch has now turned to worry and apathy.
Time and time again I have seen game developers crumble and give in to the highest bidder - ruining their vision for the sake of monetary gain. I am expecting the same to happen here.
Words mean absolutely nothing. Game developers lie to their players’ faces all the time. Your actions are what matters.
Now, I want to clear the air of some concerns that this news may bring to our long-term community. I have personally been on the player-side of this coin, where I see one of my cherished independent game studios partner with a larger company and worry that the independent company and games they produce may be altered for the worse.
I will not be surprised if this is a self-fulfilling prophecy. In fact, I expect this to happen a few years down the line.
This is not a complete dealbreaker for me, but I will be severely lowering my expectations for the game going forward.
I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong.
Lots of gamers have an immediate, irrational frothing at the mouth reaction when seeing the word “Tencent”, but I, for one, am happy to see EHG secure more funding to expand their team while retaining their autonomy and have zero concerns.
Are you able (understandable if not) to elaborate or quantify on how much of a stake Tencent has (for instance, 10%, 49%, majority, etc) or if it’s a different type of agreement entirely?
They can but I’d be exceptionally surprised if they did. I think the only reason we know how much of a stake Tencent have in GGG is from GGG’s statutory reporting.
All the initial worries people had when Tencent took over PoE never came to pass, so I see this as good news. PoE is probably in the best state it’s ever been I’m really enjoying this league.
Ultimately, this extra investment can only make LE better and surely we all want that.
I’ll be blunt here: Game developers say one thing and then turn around and do another ALL THE TIME. Whatever reasons I may have had to think that EHG will be an exception to this just died an ugly death.