Can you make that distinction though, in case of Tencent? Chinese companies are much more beholden to the Chinese government than is typically the case for companies in other countries (except maybe Russia, where the same control happens by the state).
So you are in effect partnering with a company whose political views are one and the same as those of the Chinese government.
What I hate the most about these kinds of situations is the dishonesty. I would so much appreciate it if EHG would flat out admit to something like the following:
We need money to keep making a great game. Tencent happens to offer us the most money for the least equity so we took it. We realize that this at least partly aligns us with the political motivations of the Chinese government and that is a risk we’re willing to take and our choice to make
This is horrible news. Riot / GGG / EHG three way conflict of interest topped with worldwide political unrest with China (and thus their state owned companies) being on the verge of supporting Russia.
And also being more up front about the exact ownership amount, rather than dodging the issue multiple times before giving an inexact answer buried within a forum thread most people won’t even look at
I’m worried about this deal too, but didn’t you read how they searched forever for an investor that did not demand any control and after a long search they partnered up with tencent?
I’m sure they are aware they are dancing with the devil, but it seemed to be the only way to maintain their independence while achieving the necessary funding.
No, I didn’t consider it, because I don’t have to. And I don’t need to make any assumptions either.
The home of every person in this thread screaming about Tencent and the Chinese government is full of consumer goods that came from China - goods that they had zero problem with purchasing and had no care for the origin of, or conditions it was manufactured in. Nobody with a device that lets them access the internet to post here gets to throw down the outrage card and act like they’re doing good deeds.
EHG does not owe any of us a detailed accounting of their business decisions, and that doesn’t change just because rabble rabble China. The fact that they even made this thread at all to inform the community and have answered any questions about it at all is already above and beyond.
Sometimes I buy things made in China. Sometimes that’s literally the only option if I want that type of thing. I’m going to keep doing this, but I’m also going to keep doing what I can to avoid buying made-in-China things when practical. This is one way to encourage markets to produce more not-made-in-China stuff in the future, and there’s nothing hypocritical about it. Fortunately Tencent/EHG don’t make anything that’s impractical to boycott.
Your logic is also flawed. You’re arbitrarily saying there’s not enough opposition to the Chinese government from the strawmen you’re attacking without establishing any reasoning for it nor a baseline minimum to “earn” the right to voice dissatisfaction.
I’ll extend your line of thinking for you. Because the imaginary people you’re making assumptions about aren’t boycotting Chinese products more, 100% of the time, they can’t voice disagreement - the smallest form of protest. You either support 100% or you boycott 100%. It doesn’t matter how unrealistic this is. There’s no room for granularity or a progressive change. There’s no room for culling or eliminating support for some products or companies that are more realistic to boycott.
Look, man, I get it. If you’re coming from a good place, then I sympathize. I genuinely wish more people did more to align with their projected beliefs in general. But sitting on a high horse calling out people you know nothing about for things you’re assuming about them is only ever going to alienate people and push them into thinking there’s only 2 valid stances, either all in or all out, and frankly it just makes you seem like a self righteous fool at best. If people are dissatisfied with these news, I encourage them to act even if just by not giving EHG free advertising by recommending the game. You don’t have to overthrow a superpower all by yourself.
What they don’t get to do is preach like an utterly empty gesture of “say angry words on a game forum”, that has cost them absolutely nothing, catapults them to the moral high ground, helps anybody, or accomplishes anything. Especially not while simultaneously living the rest of their lives only giving a damn when goods they purchase came from China when it doesn’t inconvenience them.
Words are cheap, and outrage and moralizing carry no weight when they cost nothing. Fair weather activism isn’t activism. That is what I find offensive here.
I have yet to see a partnership involving a large corporation buying a “smaller” gaming business, where the end-product became better in the long-term. Activision/Blizzard, Sony/EQ or 10Cent/PoE. All just became more grindy and more convoluted – more concerned with keeping players on as much as possible through time-sinks, or inundated with real money micro-transations, than about making the game just more enjoyable to be playing.
Seriously. Taking money from a company that’s just been fined for money laundering? A company part and parcel of a country that refuses to this day to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Wow.
I don’t like Tencent but you know better how to run your buiseness . I hope all this is for the better. At least speed up the developmen of the upcoming mastgeries please. It is the main thing for me (and I believe for many other players) before the 1.0 release.
I’m not worried about the EHG staff. They have shown themselves to be respectable people in terms of development and transparency.
I do worry about Tencent. I lack trust in that company. I mostly worry about theft of intellectual property. How long before a bootleg mobile LE shows up in app stores?
OK. But I don’t see the fake moral outrage you claim. I see people writing they’re unhappy with this choice for a multitude of completely valid reasons. So either you’re preaching to complete strangers that YOU hold arbitration over what is an appropriate amount of practical activism for no reason and without actually providing any solid logic for any of it, in which case calling people out at all is really no better, or to you, voicing disagreement IS fake moral outrage built on a retinue of assumptions, in which case my points remain unaddressed.
I hope you understand at least that lost sales translate directly to lost money for Tencent and the CCP, and even if all people really do is kick up a moral outrage and contribute to lost sales, they’re already making a very practical change. Again, if. That’s entirely within your assumption game unless you want to argue that this kind of negative publicity won’t cost sales. And I don’t care if that’s doing too little according to a stranger with (at best) nebulous ideas of how much boycott is enough to earn the right to voice disagreement online. These things aren’t all or nothing. I’ll peace out now. I have nothing more to add, so I hope you have a good day, man.
While I am definitely on the side of not liking Tencent, I’d say this is a good thing for EHG and LE. It’s more money for them to work with and with less than a 25% share, Tencent can’t make any real decisions for the game or company.
However, I would just warn of any influences Tencent might have. While the actual decisions will fall on the lap of EHG, I’d be wary of anything Tencent might say/do to try to sway you in the wrong direction. I’ll admit I have very little knowledge of how things like this actually work, so something like this may not even be a real thing. I’m just voicing my concern.
Best of luck EHG. I am still loving the game and looking forward to the future!
I’m done and gone. The communist occupiers of China are the most evil force in our world today committing several atrocities. You just let them buy part of you. I’d rather die than sell even a portion of my work to them. I definitely will never play a game that sells itself to them.
I appreciate your courage and endurance in sticking to the plan. The game is shaping up nicely and I believe this partnership to be a good sign of the future.
