Chinese internet behemoth Tencent is closing in on an agreement to acquire 10 per cent of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds developer Bluehole.
That comes from The Wall Street Journal, which reports that the deal is set to be worth over $500 million and could value the South Korean games developer at more than $5 billion.
It was also reported that the sale is not intended to raise capital for Bluehole but instead is a chance for early investors to cash out on shares.
The Wall Street Journal claims that Tencent has never bought a stake in Bluehole, which is a contradiction to various reports in the Korean media.
According to the Korea Herold, Tencent acquired a 1.5 per cent stake in Bluehole for $63.9 million as a part of a deal for publishing rights in China.
Niko Partners backed up this report and has presented information to PocketGamer.Biz that Tencent owns a sub-five per cent stake in the company.
WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER
Tencent has already released several mobile variants of Bluehole’s PUBG - which is now technically run by subsidiary PUBG Corp.
China was the first region to get its hands on the popular battle royale port when PUBG: Exhilarating Battlefield and PUBG: Army Attack was released in China on February 9th.
The duo were quick to make a splash as they became the two most downloaded apps worldwide on the iOS App Store within days following their launch, despite only being released in China.
PUBG Mobile followed suit with a Western release and swiftly hit the top spot in the iOS free games chart in 17 different countries within 24 hours of launch, according to App Annie.
