Tencent on the hunt to buy Warframe? (Deal not confirmed/final)

[Angwah]

1 hour ago, (PS4)UltraKardas said:

Kinda is.

If Tencent owns Warframe, its "Under new management." Something like that should have the courtesy to announce.

Nothing has happened yet. Leyou and Tencent are just talking at this moment. Nothing has been bought, nothing has been sold.

Therefore there is nothing to say or announce.

[(PSN)Frostelus]

I'm not aware of the "bad stuff" about Tencent that much, so I don't really feel much about them potentially buying Warframe, or rather the company that owns Warframe.

To be honest, I always thought Tencent was an alright company were they helped with development of certain mobile games. Many of them I actually found to be interesting and even enjoyable.

Regarding my thoughts about the future of Warframe, I can only hope for the best and DE will keep doing whatever they want with the game with no interference whatsoever.
Who knows? Maybe Tencent would make a mobile spin-off? I actually wouldn't mind that, honestly, as long as it's not battle royale. That's the last thing I want in Warframe

[Neurohax]

1 hour ago, notlamprey said:

A Tencent acquisition would unfortunately be different for me. I can't make peace with being around this game if something like that were to happen. There would be no coming back for me; I just wouldn't feel good about myself if I did. It's one of those points where inner peace has to take priority.

I could not have said it better. I've been playing for less than a year, but have >1k hours (don't do the math). It's helped me deal with a rough time and I wish I had started earlier, but I can't support Tencent with a clear conscience. Most big companies have some sketch or immoral-but-legal episodes in their past, but Tencent is on a different level.

At least I'll be leaving on a high note - I'm starting to understand some of the veterans' broader frustrations, but I'm still having fun. Sucks that it has to end like this.

[Felsagger]

22 hours ago, SneakyErvin said:

I think that is likely the best solution since he's just so far out of it. Atleast someone's lawn will be neat in the end.

Yes according to you. The impact will be reflected over the customers. Lets wait that such thing never happen. Tencent will push the knobs for sure. 

[Felsagger]

13 hours ago, Fire2box said:

I know DE can't stop the sale at all given they sold themselves to Leyou long ago. But the number of days that go by without DE even talking about it is deeply concerning to me and it'll only grow. I figured if they didn't say anything on Monday they won't say anything this week or even for the rest of july. If they say nothing about it during Tennocon I think it'll be the straw that broke the camel's back for me. 

Pretty much. 

That reiterates that something is not on the right tracks as I expected. DE is way too tight lipped about this situation without saying a word. 

[Felsagger]

6 hours ago, Neurohax said:

I could not have said it better. I've been playing for less than a year, but have >1k hours (don't do the math). It's helped me deal with a rough time and I wish I had started earlier, but I can't support Tencent with a clear conscience. Most big companies have some sketch or immoral-but-legal episodes in their past, but Tencent is on a different level.

At least I'll be leaving on a high note - I'm starting to understand some of the veterans' broader frustrations, but I'm still having fun. Sucks that it has to end like this.

Precisely. DE knows about the potential backlash that such move represents. What scares me the most is that they threw this topic under the rug few times. I would be really worried if they say nothing in Tennocon. If that happens then you know what will follow next. I haven't heard anyone in DE talking about the subject or explaining how things will work from now on. DE at least must say something. 

 

[SneakyErvin]

10 hours ago, Fire2box said:

Why shouldn't they? 

Grinding Gear Games (Path of Exile) did an entire post when they sold themselves to Tencent. 

 

And to cap it off. DE did the very same thing when they sold themselves to Leyou. https://www.digitalextremes.com/news/2014/10/partnership-announced

That is because GGG had no parent company at the time. They went into the deal personally. Just like DE at the time had no parent company. Now DE and GGG are subsidiaries, so in this case DE cant say anything since the deal isnt between them and Tencent, it is between Leyou and Tencent, involving several studios under Leyou. Not sure why people think this is some direct deal with DE.

[Corvid]

21 minutes ago, SneakyErvin said:

Not sure why people think this is some direct deal with DE.

Probably because of the thread title, if I'm being honest.

[(XBOX)TheWayOfWisdom]

1 hour ago, SneakyErvin said:

Not sure why people think this is some direct deal with DE.

Cause ignorance and fearmongering is fun I guess.

[Felsagger]

2 hours ago, SneakyErvin said:

That is because GGG had no parent company at the time. They went into the deal personally. Just like DE at the time had no parent company. Now DE and GGG are subsidiaries, so in this case DE cant say anything since the deal isnt between them and Tencent, it is between Leyou and Tencent, involving several studios under Leyou. Not sure why people think this is some direct deal with DE.

That's true. 

DE can't do anything about it. 

DE should speak up about the situation and how we are going to be affected by it. 

[Fire2box]

14 hours ago, OniDax said:

They can't talk about it yet because the sale isn't final yet. They are legally bound to silence until Tencent makes the purchase. If Tencent holds out the entire three months, then DE can't talk about it for three months. So don't expect DE to talk about it this week or next. Until Tencent and Leyou announce that the buyout is happening, DE won't be saying anything on the matter. You need to have realistic expectations.

If they can't even utter the word Tencent when they aren't even owned by them then it's likely already to late for any PR recover. 

[Fire2box]

4 hours ago, SneakyErvin said:

Not sure why people think this is some direct deal with DE.

You real need an army of strawmen?

[SneakyErvin]

1 hour ago, Felsagger said:

That's true. 

DE can't do anything about it. 

DE should speak up about the situation and how we are going to be affected by it. 

How can they speak up and tell us how we'll get affected when they arent involved in the deal? They cant know anything yet since there is a long time before the agreement is made, then there is even more time before the deal is actually finalized. What can they possibly tell us?

10 minutes ago, Fire2box said:

You real need an army of strawmen?

What strawmen? The deal isnt between DE and Tencent, this is about several different studios possibly being overtaken in the deal. We dont even know if DE will actually be part of the deal, it is all speculations and nothing else. Just as when Fox got "bought up" by Disney, they retained several studios in the deal, we dont know what exact parts of Leyou that will be sold or if the whole thing stays as Leyou but as a subsidiary of Tencent.

So the whole idea about DE speaking about it when they possibly cant know is just silly.

[Felsagger]

2 hours ago, SneakyErvin said:

How can they speak up and tell us how we'll get affected when they arent involved in the deal? They cant know anything yet since there is a long time before the agreement is made, then there is even more time before the deal is actually finalized. What can they possibly tell us?

 

Once the deal is over we will know how things will unfold. 

 

[HolySeraphin]

18 hours ago, (PS4)Onder6099 said:

Are we shareholders and Tennocon is General meeting? No. Just because DE is so transparent and customers friendly doesn’t automatically means that we should know about single step they will make, especially when we know 💩 about the contracts and how negotiations goes. You made a deal and I will constantly blame You for that, while I don’t how it looks like, how You will like it?

It baffles me how many players think they are shareholders of DE. Heck, some partners were demanding to have some authority in how the game is going and got angry when they were not heard. I guess that if I go to a Disney Park for vacation every year I get a stock/share of the company (sarcasm).

Even founders are not considered shareholders. They did give initial investment but it was clear in the registration that it was to gather capital (money) for the game, and nowhere in the docs it was stated that they would get any kind of control over DE, except maybe for the Design Council, but they both are not considered shareholders.

There are 2 main types of shareholders: those who only get profit; and those who get profit and control over the company.

[(PSN)UltraKardas]

52 minutes ago, HolySeraphin said:

There are 2 main types of shareholders: those who only get profit; and those who get profit and control over the company.

Except certain people have things called Principles. 

Here it seems Warframe has the full capacity to not sell. They don't seem to be hurting for money, and this entire thing reeks of something the corpus would do. 

I wouldn't care either, as long as it was anyone not Tencent. 

Tencent is the actual definition of terrible, as is much of China. They are also TERRIBLE for games. See Animal Crossing, Doom Eternal, and Monster Hunter World for details how China is terrible. Censorship is pretty terrible. 

Warframe could see to literally anyone else, and I'd be ok with that. But Tencent? Yeah. I'm out. 

[Loza03]

6 minutes ago, (PS4)UltraKardas said:

Except certain people have things called Principles. 

Here it seems Warframe has the full capacity to not sell. They don't seem to be hurting for money, and this entire thing reeks of something the corpus would do. 

I wouldn't care either, as long as it was anyone not Tencent. 

Tencent is the actual definition of terrible, as is much of China. They are also TERRIBLE for games. See Animal Crossing, Doom Eternal, and Monster Hunter World for details how China is terrible. Censorship is pretty terrible. 

Warframe could see to literally anyone else, and I'd be ok with that. But Tencent? Yeah. I'm out. 

And what do you want Digital Extremes to do about it?

It's unlikely that they have any say in the matter, let alone a say beyond a single vote in a boardroom.

 

Direct your points to Leyou, not to Warframe or Digital Extremes.

[(PSN)UltraKardas]

12 minutes ago, Loza03 said:

And what do you want Digital Extremes to do about it?

Pretty sure that was already clear. 

Sell to literally anyone else, except the one video game company known for blatant censorship, terrible rip off games, and controlled directly by the socialist government. 

Selling to Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, or literally Santa Clause would be fine. Tencent is not ok. 

[(PSN)SolarPhantom82]

4 hours ago, Loza03 said:

And what do you want Digital Extremes to do about it?

It's unlikely that they have any say in the matter, let alone a say beyond a single vote in a boardroom.

 

Direct your points to Leyou, not to Warframe or Digital Extremes.

But it's effects warframe directly. . We know DE can't do anything about it. .  But doesn't mean we will keep playing if tencen own them.  My money's not going to tencent  . No thanks 

[Loza03]

  

Just now, (PS4)UltraKardas said:

Pretty sure that was already clear. 

Sell to literally anyone else, except the one video game company known for blatant censorship, terrible rip off games, and controlled directly by the socialist government. 

Selling to Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, or literally Santa Clause would be fine. Tencent is not ok. 

And how do you expect them to do that?

Again, Leyou has the steering wheel here, not Digital Extremes. Unless they can negotiate splitting and somehow bringing Warframe's intellectual property with them (which I might point out, is Leyou's biggest revenue stream, so a pretty hard sell), there is practically nothing they can do.

1 minute ago, (PS4)SolarPhantom82 said:

But it's effects warframe directly. . We know DE can't do anything about it. .  But doesn't mean we will keep playing if tencen own them.  My money's not going to tgem  . No thanks 

That's your decision, and I respect your right to make it.

... But DE still don't have all that much say in this deal.

[(PSN)UltraKardas]

2 minutes ago, Loza03 said:

  And how do you expect them to do that?

Before Tencent came up, I heard rumors of selling to Sony. If they can (or if they did) turn down Sony, they can turn down Tencent. 

I will not be supporting Tencent's history of Censorship. Several of my favorite games of this year, WHILE dealing with The Chinese Corona virus are all banned in China. 

7 minutes ago, Loza03 said:

Unless they can negotiate splitting and somehow bringing Warframe's intellectual property with them (which I might point out, is Leyou's biggest revenue stream,

Not selling is also an option. 

Leyou can keep it's biggest revenue stream. Selling is optional. If DE sells only because they are forced to sell, I won't be mad at them, But I'm down with DE as long as they are Tencent owned. I will not support China in any way shape or form. 

I don't play PoE, League of Legends, or other Tencent owned games for this reason. It's just not going to happen. 

[HolySeraphin]

1 hour ago, (PS4)UltraKardas said:

Except certain people have things called Principles. 

Here it seems Warframe has the full capacity to not sell. They don't seem to be hurting for money, and this entire thing reeks of something the corpus would do. 

I wouldn't care either, as long as it was anyone not Tencent. 

Tencent is the actual definition of terrible, as is much of China. They are also TERRIBLE for games. See Animal Crossing, Doom Eternal, and Monster Hunter World for details how China is terrible. Censorship is pretty terrible. 

Warframe could see to literally anyone else, and I'd be ok with that. But Tencent? Yeah. I'm out. 

Better Name Pending explained it on youtube. DE was bought by Leyou years ago. It is Leyou who owns DE, and therefore it is Leyou the one that is talking with Tencent about selling itself and therefore Warframe as consequence. Digital Extremes and its staff have no say in the matter, they cannot decide if they are going to be sold.

Leyou is negotiating itself, not just Warframe. They could only sell Warframe if they so desired, but that's not the case. The subject of the negotiations is the entire Leyou.

[Loza03]

Just now, (PS4)UltraKardas said:

Before Tencent came up, I heard rumors of selling to Sony. If they can (or if they did) turn down Sony, they can turn down Tencent. 

I will not be supporting Tencent's history of Censorship. Several of my favorite games of this year, WHILE dealing with The Chinese Corona virus are all banned in China. 

This is true, and I'd certainly prefer that. It'd certainly give me more peace of mind.

1 minute ago, (PS4)UltraKardas said:

Not selling is also an option. 

Leyou can keep it's biggest revenue stream. Selling is optional. If DE sells only because they are forced to sell, I won't be mad at them, But I'm down with DE as long as they are Tencent owned. I will not support China in any way shape or form. 

I don't play PoE, League of Legends, or other Tencent owned games for this reason. It's just not going to happen

For DE, not selling is not an option. Selling is not an option. DE do not get a say in the affairs of Leyou as a company, except maybe, if they're lucky, a single vote on a boardroom.

The only option that the company Digital Extremes has is to buy back their shares and split with Leyou. It would be astronomically unlikely that they would get to keep Warframe in such a deal, since that is Leyou's primary revenue stream, and thus they are highly interested in keeping that revenue.

This is because DE already sold to Leyou. That deal has been done. And they already came out of it pretty well, considering that they were able to hold on to Creative Control of Warframe. Nevertheless, 97% of their shares belongs to Leyou, which functionally means that Leyou owns Digital Extremes, and they must do.

 

Telling DE not to sell is an exercise in futility, because DE simply do not get a say in the matter.

[SneakyErvin]

13 hours ago, Felsagger said:

Once the deal is over we will know how things will unfold. 

 

And that can take up to around a year when such big deals are made. And then after that it is up to Leyou, Tencent or whoever will be the parent of DE to decide who brings the news. We dont even know who DE will be the direct subsidiary of. As it currently is, all financial info comes directly from the parent, we dont get annual reports from DE etc. So expecting DE to talk about a deal that isnt made through them directly is pretty damn far fetched.

They really have no obligation to tell us about their business since we arent shareholders.

[(XBOX)C11H22O11]