Tencent reportedly looking to sell its stake in Marvelous as it reassesses Japanese game investments

Tencent is in talks to exit several Japanese game studio investments, and Marvelous — the studio behind Rune Factory and Monster Hunter Stories — is reportedly among them. Bloomberg broke the story, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.

According to Bloomberg, Tencent is considering selling some of its stakes back to original management, in certain cases at a loss. The Chinese conglomerate picked up its stake in Marvelous back in 2020, but the broader industry slump has prompted a global portfolio reassessment. Notably, FromSoftware and its parent Kadokawa, as well as Platinum Games, are not part of these talks — so not every Tencent-backed Japanese studio is on the table.

The strategic pivot makes sense when you look at where Tencent has been putting its energy lately. Last year it partnered with Ubisoft to create Vantage Studios, a subsidiary that now holds some of Ubisoft's biggest franchises — exactly the kind of large-scale co-development play Tencent sees as a better growth vehicle than minority stakes in mid-sized Japanese developers. Tencent also keeps its foot in casual and user-generated content markets, maintaining its Roblox partnership and keeping that platform alive in China.

What a Tencent exit would actually mean for Marvelous day-to-day is unclear. The studio is still navigating a tough market — rising costs and squeezed consumer spending have hit traditional game developers hard. Whether new ownership or a management buyback would change anything for Rune Factory and Monster Hunter Stories fans remains to be seen.