Tencent's relationship with Riot strained over differences on mobile gaming

It sounds like the last few years have been somewhat rocky for Riot Games and Tencent.

That's according to a report from The Information, which saw the firm chat to over 40 people, that claims Tencent is more interested in mobile games and battle royale than the MOBA genre at the moment.

Since Tencent bought Riot back in 2011, The League of Legends playerbase has dipped. The Chinese giant reportedly asked Riot to turn its PC MOBA into a mobile title; something the LoL firm resisted.

Strained

This mobile MOBA went on to be Honor of Kings - Arena of Valor in the West - with Riot employees shocked at just how similar it looked to League of Legends during early stages. The art style was changed, but the game went on to be a huge success both in Tencent's native China and North America.

Tencent is reportedly now more interested in the burgeoning battle royale genre, holding stakes in both Fortnite and Unreal Engine 4 maker Epic Games and Playerunknown's Battlegrounds firms Bluehole and PUBG Corp. As well as the massive success of both of these games, Tencent's new focus is also in part due to the aforementioned drop in League of Legends' playerbase.

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