Bluehole confirms Tencent interest as reports suggest stake has already been acquired

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds developer Bluehole has confirmed that it is indeed in discussions with Chinese gaming giant Tencent about a possible equity acquisition.

Bluehole last month denied reports that Tencent had already invested in it, telling Games Industry that such reports were “not accurate”. However, speaking to Bloomberg, Bluehole co-founder and chairman Chang Byung-gyu has confirmed that talks are ongoing about the possibility of Tencent acquiring an equity stake.

“Tencent can be a very important partner for us,” he added. It also looks as if Tencent will become the game’s Chinese publishing partner.

Korean business portal The Investor yesterday went a stage further, claiming that Tencent has in fact already acquired a five per cent stake in the studio for around $61m. It adds that Tencent wanted to acquire a controlling stake, but that Bluehole resisted. 

In other PUBG news, the game was the recipient of another weekly update yesterday – its third in two weeks, despite the supposed slowdown in the game’s patch rate.

The changes were minor and comprised mostly of small fixes relating to disappearing shadows, graphics bugs and synchronisation issues with a player’s aiming reticule when in spectator mode. Players can also now adjust the zoom speed on the world map.