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

[Loza03]

My personal thoughts.

We're likely not going to see any changes for the immediate future - it's likely that anything in current, mid-late stage development won't see any major changes, because by the time all the paperwork and introductions to the various new demon overlords to pay unholy tribute to have been sorted out, it'll be cheaper not to change it. So, don't expect to suddenly see the whole game turn microtransaction hell tomorrow.

There is a Chinese-exclusive version of Warframe, and this is something the game has in common with Path of Exile which, as people have said, has been relatively untouched. We don't know if this is a factor, but if it is, that similarity is comforting. Likewise, there is no reason to believe that the specific contract DE has with Leyou has changed, so DE should still retain creative control. For as likely as it is that there will be an impact, it fortunately is unlikely to be just 'Tencent breaks down the door and starts injecting monetisation juice into the WF team's eyeballs' - DE still has a large amount of control about the how and most of the what, the main factor that could change is the why.

And, getting what little good news we can, the overall cost/benefit analysis that was had with Sony still applies to Tencent. At the end of the day, having a big studio like this pretty much boils down to 'you get more resources and more concise management, but that management does not have your interests at heart and so you are pulled along by '. The only real difference is how that company goes about acting on their own interests, and what those interests are. And whilst people are more suspicious of Tencent (and for extremely good reason), we can't forget that Sony could very well been just as bad. The best-case and worst-case scenarios are pretty similar, all that it came down to was the weighting to the weighting on the probability towards the outcome.

[WhiteMarker]

1 minute ago, Kaotyke said:

But this time it will be different. I don't have proof, I don't know how. But it will.

It must. It's has. It's may be. It will be a Mayple leaf.

Oh right, I forgot.
Thank you for reminding me.

[trunks013]

6 minutes ago, Kaotyke said:

But this time it will be different. I don't have proof, I don't know how. But it will.

It must. It's has. It's may be. It will be a Mayple leaf.

canadian maple leaf ? 

hummm maple sirup !

back on topic i doubt its gonna change anything if it changes something i think its gonna be for the better ^.^ 

[Ice_Peck]

Just now, trunks013 said:

canadian maple leaf ? 

hummm maple sirup !

back on topic i doubt its gonna change anything if it changes something i think its gonna be for the better ^.^ 

Better for Tencents pockets, sure.

 

Gotta keep in mind the Sunk Cost fallacy. If Tencent wanted Leyou for DEs shares then DE will be pushed into monetizing the game further to produce a higher, immediate profit.

 

If things were to change for the better a number of things would have to happen first, all of which would require more money than what was spent buying out Leyou to begin with. So Tencent would have to lose a lot of money before they acquired a net gain. Most businesses don't seek sustainable profit anymore. They seek immediate bursts of profit.

 

There's a chance, sure. But it's very unlikely. Especially given Tencents history.

[DrivaMain]

Edited the title because the deal is not final. Leyou and Tencent have over 3 months to think it through.

[(PSN)lumen2ne1]

12 minutes ago, Angwah said:

League of Legends and Fortnite also operate without interference from Tencent. They are known to be hands-off.

The game that started to have mobile-like predatory practices? skins from hundreds of dollars worth of lootboxes? the game that went from having full events with different and exclusive game modes to just event passes completing missions during normal games? the game that ended up monetizing the achievement system? the game that admitted to cater to the popular and best selling champions? Tencent doesn't interfere in the game development, but it sure does seem to interfere in their companies monetization.

[Yrkul]

20 minutes ago, Angwah said:

League of Legends and Fortnite also operate without interference from Tencent. They are known to be hands-off. 

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Firefall?

[(PSN)sweatshawp]

40 minutes ago, DrivaMain said:

While that’s true to PoE. We don’t know how Tencent will view Warframe and their “plans“ for it. If Warframe flops in microtransaction sales in 1 failed update, they may send men in suits straight into DE’s office.

Not at all. Warframe makes enough money with other ventures outside of micro transactions such as play purchases we still have prime access and other packs as well as tennogen which sells fairly well bro

[DrivaMain]

2 minutes ago, (PS4)sweatshawp said:

Not at all. Warframe makes enough money with other ventures outside of micro transactions such as play purchases we still have prime access and other packs as well as tennogen which sells fairly well bro

Prime Access and Tennogen falls under the category of “microtransactions” FYI.

[Angwah]

5 minutes ago, (PS4)lumen2ne1 said:

The game that started to have mobile-like predatory practices? skins from hundreds of dollars worth of lootboxes? the game that went from having full events with different and exclusive game modes to just event passes completing missions during normal games? the game that ended up monetizing the achievement system? the game that admitted to cater to the popular and best selling champions? Tencent doesn't interfere in the game development, but it sure does seem to interfere in their companies monetization.

Yes, that LoL. And all that stuff is Riot Games themselves. Beck and Merrill are still in charge and calling the shots. Tencent actually was among the first investors. They've always been a part of Riot Games and LoL.

[(PSN)sweatshawp]

5 minutes ago, DrivaMain said:

Prime Access and Tennogen falls under the category of “microtransactions” FYI.

My apologies for the trash wording. But my Statement still stands in that regard of such. They are good off of those. And even so. It’s a popular game in many cases these companies take a hands off approach. As well as with the agreement remaining the same on des end they kinda can’t force de to do too much of anything granted they keep creative rights 

[taiiat]

same 'ol same 'ol - big pockets become Shareholders and it influences the future because increasing profits is continuous pressure.
the bigger the pockets, the stronger the effect.
happens all over the place.

40 minutes ago, WhiteMarker said:

People feared Leyou aswell, and what happened? Nothing.

12 different kinds of Forma happened, Et Cetera.
 

[BiancaRoughfin]

14 minutes ago, Yrkul said:

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Firefall?

Not to mention recently Valorant which barely launched becoming a complete joke because of its massively overpriced and ridiculous themed Micro-Transactions.

[(PSN)sweatshawp]

2 minutes ago, BiancaRoughfin said:

Not to mention recently Valorant which barely launched becoming a complete joke because of its massively overpriced and ridiculous themed Micro-Transactions.

Valorant is bad for other reasons besides the micro transactions.

 

[DrivaMain]

4 minutes ago, BiancaRoughfin said:

Not to mention recently Valorant which barely launched becoming a complete joke because of its massively overpriced and ridiculous themed Micro-Transactions.

Isn’t Valorant an overwatch/apex legends/Counter Strike Clone?

[Rakosta_Kai]

2 minutes ago, (PS4)lumen2ne1 said:

The game that started to have mobile-like predatory practices? skins from hundreds of dollars worth of lootboxes? the game that went from having full events with different and exclusive game modes to just event passes completing missions during normal games? the game that ended up monetizing the achievement system? the game that admitted to cater to the popular and best selling champions? Tencent doesn't interfere in the game development, but it sure does seem to interfere in their companies monetization.

Companies have to be profitable.

That may sound mean and won't be directed at the ~2% of the players that actually do spend money on the game (2% is the rough average for most F2P games) of course. If the developer isn't finding/creating opportunities to monetize then it's, ideally, the Publisher's job to do so on behalf of the stockholders.

The goal should be to create scenarios and things people will want to spend money on as opposed to feeling they are being required to though.    

[Fl_3]

25 minutes ago, Yrkul said:

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Firefall?

Such an awesome game, amazing gameplay, awesome ideas, incredible potential. Destroyed by bad money making decisions on the day of its launch.

 

[Lutesque]

Why are you worried ? I feel like with how rubbish content is getting released that some meddling might actually be good.

Also quite frankly its none of our business anyway.

[BloodKitten]

tencent..... mobile scam games artist, and the ones making cyberpunk setting ripoff game showing absolutly 0 gameplay? yea.... if they are not letting DE retain creative constorl, i will leave, because from my experience with them, they would more then likely move the game to thier parthner store wich is not as secured as independed launcher or steam (+data leaks)

[DrivaMain]

3 minutes ago, Lutesque said:

Also quite frankly its none of our business anyway.

It kinda is because this will make us the players to start considering to drop the game since a giant company with questionable decisions is about to absorb Warframe into it's domain.

[(PSN)guzmantt1977]

1 hour ago, DrivaMain said:

Leyou has accepted Tencent’s offer and are currently in negotiation process, should we be worried?

Will worrying change anything about the outcome? 

[dwqrf]

il y a 53 minutes, Yrkul a dit :

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Firefall?

il y a 23 minutes, Fl_3 a dit :

Such an awesome game, amazing gameplay, awesome ideas, incredible potential. Destroyed by bad money making decisions on the day of its launch.

That brought back some vietnam war flashback. It was such a good game, and the music... ho man.

But... Did Tencent had anything to do with Firefall fall ?

[Viges]

1 hour ago, (PS4)lumen2ne1 said:

Yes. Maybe not now or in a couple of years, but Tencent always ends up pushing the companies they buy to bring the cash, choking them into practicing predatory and scummy microtransactions to make enough profit grofit.

Yea, completely not like other big companies like EA, Ubisoft, Activision etc. which rarely pushing any lootboxes, microtransactions and other bs. Am I right?

[Aadi880]

I think "Tencent bought DE" is misleading as heck, judging by some of the comments of OP's post.

Let us reiterate the fact that "Tencent is in a exclusivity agreement" with Leyou.

DE is ONE of the subisdaries than Leyou has bought shares of. There are OTHER members of the group. There is a possibility that Leyou is not after DE in particular, but someone else who is also bought by Leyou (Leyou has bought a lot of shares from different companies now that I think of it). Splash Damage, Athlon Games, Kingmaker and Radiance Games are other subsidiaries besides Leyou.

 

It depends on the performance of the other games besides DE for Tencent to decide to buy it. If they are not doing too hot, Tencent will have to reconsider. 

And then there are the other companies who are not involved in gaming at all.

[DeMonkey]

13 minutes ago, DrivaMain said:

DE loses creative freedom is a good thing? 

One might argue that DE have been a little too "freely" creative, and have struggled to actually focus on completing projects in a timely manner and to a satisfactory standard.

Just playing devils advocate.