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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Last year, South Korean game developer Shift Up successfully completed its initial public offering (IPO) and became a listed company, with shares jumping by 49% (to about $64.89 apiece) in the first day of trading. This was largely due to the worldwide success of Shift Up's flagship IPs – Stellar Blade and Goddess of Victory: NIKKE. However, as reported by South Korean outlet Global Economic, investors and analysts have recently raised concerns over the studio's future due to a lack of transparency in its governance and potentially risky relationship with Chinese Internet giant Tencent.

While Shift Up's founder and CEO Hyung-Tae Kim holds significant decision-making authority in the company, it's been pointed out that the gap between his stake and the stake of Tencent, Shift Up's second largest shareholder, is too narrow. Kim owns a 39% stake, while Tencent, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Aceville, owns 34.58% of Shift Up – a difference of only 4-5%.

Therefore, if Tencent were to increase its stake further, it could gain considerable influence over Shift Up's management. Furthermore, since Tencent not only holds equity but also handles global publishing of Shift Up's mobile games, they're responsible for generating a significant portion of the studio's revenue. As a result, Shift Up's future financial performance could fluctuate greatly depending on their relationship with Tencent, which, according to investors, indicates a need for a contingency plan.

Additionally, on June 2, Shift Up published a report on its corporate governance which showed a very low level of transparency. At 33.3%, its compliance indicators were half that of the average listed company. These indicators are a measure of factors such as minority shareholder rights, board independence, and internal auditing, so investors are anxious to see improvements from Shift Up in those fields.

Stellar Blade studio Shift Up's independence at risk due to Tencent ties, investors fear - AUTOMATON WEST

Tencent not only owns a large stake in Shift Up, but it also publishes their mobile games globally, meaning significant revenue is generated through Tencent.

automaton-media.com

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Never work with the Chinese or the Arabs. Or learn the hard way. Seriously. Between Tencent, Savvy, and all the assholes in between, it never ends well.

 

[Generic]

Tencent will censor the hell out of Stellar Blade 2.

 

[Nankatsu]

No more ass and boobs jiggles.

 

[BennyBlanco]

And what would change really? Shift Up made their fortune on Nikke, mobile game gacha slop. Is Tencent gonna force them to do it again? Well that was probably the plan anyway.

 

[Starbuck2907]

Never work with the Chinese or the Arabs. Or learn the hard way. Seriously. Between Tencent, Savvy, and all the assholes in between, it never ends well.

You left Bethesda off the list. Ask Human Head studios. R.i.p.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Tencent is compulsory to enter the Chinese market and they don't make creative decisions.

Weird take.

 

[Aenima]

Tencent will censor the hell out of Stellar Blade 2.

Not really. Nikke is published by a Tencent owned publisher and Nikke is more lewd than Stellar Blade. In china, yeah, but for the global market i dont think ppl should fear tencent censorchip. The concerning part here would be Kim losing his creative decisions if someone else took over the company. I actually though Kim owned more than 50% of ShiftUp, knowing he pretty much owns almost the same as Tencent is indeed reason for concerns.

 

[daxgame]

I mean... I'm sure Tencent likes money as much as Shift Up. Stellar Blade worked.
Don't understand the point.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Is it weird how good Tencent is at picking winners? Like every time you see a succesful game from a smaller team Tencent is backing it.

 

[Madflavor]

Before people poop their pants, because I'm already seeing it happen in here, I don't believe Tencent makes a habit out of infringing on a studios creative freedom.

Tencent steps up its game: strategic investments driving global ambition-Jiemian Global

JIEMIAN is China’s most influential digital media outlet specializing in financial and business news. Founded by Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG) in September 2014. In 2018, JIEMIAN and CaiLianPress merged into JIEMIAN & CaiLianPress and a new mega-platform of superior financial news reporting...

en.jiemian.com

Unlike companies such as Sony and Microsoft, which often acquire studios with established IPs to strengthen their ecosystems and enhance platform exclusivity, Tencent takes a different approach. By investing in a diverse range of developers worldwide, Tencent focuses on providing operational support and resources while allowing studios to retain creative independence.

Unless anyone here has receipts that shows otherwise.

 

[MayauMiao]

Tencent will censor the hell out of Stellar Blade 2.

Bullshit.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Before people poop their pants, because I'm already seeing it happen in here, I don't believe Tencent makes a habit out of infringing on a studios creative freedom.

Tencent steps up its game: strategic investments driving global ambition-Jiemian Global

JIEMIAN is China’s most influential digital media outlet specializing in financial and business news. Founded by Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG) in September 2014. In 2018, JIEMIAN and CaiLianPress merged into JIEMIAN & CaiLianPress and a new mega-platform of superior financial news reporting...

en.jiemian.com

Unless anyone here has receipts that shows otherwise.

This is also true for Zenless Zone Zero's publisher. The publisher is Chinese but the dev team isn't, so that game got a lot more big tits and ass jiggle than games they normally publish.

 

[M.W.]

Sure bud. Your tentpole is not mine.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Which investors, the American-aligned ones?

Worst comes to worst, the employees jump ship, abscond with their earnings, and reincorporate under a new studio in a foreign jurisdiction. Be more worried about the Korean government's instability than CCP involvement, Tencent is just along for the ride.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

I hope they can get out of that trap

 

[nial]

This is also true for Zenless Zone Zero's publisher. The publisher is Chinese but the dev team isn't, so that game got a lot more big tits and ass jiggle than games they normally publish.

What are you talking about? Zenless Zone Zero is developed and published by Mihoyo, a Chinese company.

 

[Three]

Is it weird how good Tencent is at picking winners? Like every time you see a succesful game from a smaller team Tencent is backing it.

What do you mean, they usually "back it" after the fact with money to buy part ownership. They don't as often create the hit or winner before it wins.

 

[Kotaro]

The article didn't specify voting rights. shares owned =/= voting rights. Without more specficitions, we can't really tell. There are different types of shares.Tencent may own only a few percent below Hyung-Tae Kim ownership, but he may still far bigger voting rights.

For example, Elon only own 40% of SpaceX, but he has more than 80% voting rights.

 

[__SteakDeck__]

What do you mean, they usually "back it" after the fact with money to buy part ownership. They don't as often create the hit or winner before it wins.

They're like the Chinese MS. Buy after it's established.

 

[Pimpbaa]

What are you talking about? Zenless Zone Zero is developed and published by Mihoyo, a Chinese company.

I knew it was published by mihoyo, but I swore it was developed outside of china. Google search says I'm wrong, but I must have dreamt it or switched universes again. Weird tho, ZZZ got way more T&A action than any other Chinese gatcha game.

 

[powder]

Who cares, wasn't this game considered pretty mid anyways?

 

[Spooky Scary Skeleton]

Who cares, wasn't this game considered pretty mid anyways?

Look at the reviews? Must have fun living under a fucking rock or something.

 

[Fess]

Who cares, wasn't this game considered pretty mid anyways?

? Metacritic PC 86, Steam "Very positive" 94%. It's awesome. Go play it! There is demo if you want to try it first.

 

[Felessan]

Tencent will censor the hell out of Stellar Blade 2.

They don't care
Unlike forum fantasies Tencent mostly operate on-profit basis and don't really care about this politically-scented stuff.
They care about money, all the rest is a studio problem/freedom. Their investments range from woke-fest (Ubisoft, Riot) to nude-games (NIKKE). As long as it brings them money - they invest.

I knew it was published by mihoyo, but I swore it was developed outside of china. Google search says I'm wrong, but I must have dreamt it or switched universes again. Weird tho, ZZZ got way more T&A action than any other Chinese gatcha game.

Lol, what?
ZZZ are miles behind Azur Lane in T&A department

The popular waifu game Azur Lane was recently forced to stop selling some of its character skins as they were found to be too lewd for Googe Play's policies.

Even west find it extreme

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

? Metacritic PC 86, Steam "Very positive" 94%. It's awesome. Go play it! There is demo if you want to try it first.

Also a 4.83 out of 5 in PSN which is always the truth actual score for the PSN version compared to Metacrtic. From 78k reviews rounded up. 4.83/5 equals to around 96% out of 100% which is around Steams 94%.

So it's really is a great game everywhere. And I could already see that just 6 hours in and the sexy part isn't even the main focus for me.

 

[Astray]

They don't care
Unlike forum fantasies Tencent mostly operate on-profit basis and don't really care about this politically-scented stuff.
They care about money, all the rest is a studio problem/freedom. Their investments range from woke-fest (Ubisoft, Riot) to nude-games (NIKKE). As long as it brings them money - they invest.

Yep.

Fearmongering about Tencent is honestly very boring at this point.