Tencent May Sell Off Stakes in Several Japanese Game Studios, Including Marvelous

Tencent is reportedly looking to offload minority stakes in several Japanese game studios it considers underperforming, according to a Bloomberg report. The only studio named explicitly is Marvelous — the developer behind Story of Seasons, Rune Factory, and Daemon X Machina — which Bloomberg says hasn't met Tencent's expectations. Several other unnamed studios are also said to be involved, though FromSoftware and PlatinumGames are specifically excluded from the sell-off.

Bloomberg's sources say this isn't just a financial housecleaning — Tencent wants to shift from passive minority investor to active co-producer, building "closer working relationships with its portfolio teams" and helping studios recruit talent and access development resources. The company is reportedly willing to sell stakes back at a loss to exit studios that don't fit that new model. Crucially, the stakes are being sold back to the companies themselves rather than to outside investors, which limits the damage but still signals a vote of no confidence in the studios being dropped.

The broader context is Tencent feeling the pressure from rivals Alibaba and ByteDance in the AI race, while the global games industry continues to struggle financially. Tencent pushed back on the narrative in a statement to Bloomberg, saying "video games are core to Tencent's business" and that it "remains fully committed to working with our investees and maintaining our strong presence in the Japanese game market over the long term." Marvelous declined to comment.

For studios like Marvelous, being publicly identified as underperforming by one of gaming's biggest investors isn't a great look — even if the exit is relatively clean. The studios Tencent is keeping, meanwhile, face a different question: what does a "closer working relationship" with Tencent actually mean in practice?