British game developer Payload Studios has announced that it accepted a minority stake investment from Tencent, the China-based internet and technology colossus.
Payload Studios is the developer of the acclaimed open-world sandbox builder game, TerraTech. The studio said this investment would help the company to expand its workforce and develop more future titles.
Russell Clarke, CEO/Co-founder of Payload Studios, said, “This investment is a huge milestone for Payload Studios. It represents a major validation for the team and everything we have achieved in the past seven years with TerraTech. With the strength and reach of Tencent backing us, we can scale our capability and ambition to levels we had only dreamed of until now – taking the TerraTech IP to new places and opening up entirely new possibilities.”
Payload Studios was Founded in 2013 by the duo Russell Clarke and Vincent Scheurer, Payload Studios is geared towards developing community-centric creative sandbox games.
The studio has spent seven years working on its award-winning debut flagship, TerraTech, which was entirely self-funded and self-published by Payload. Tencent’s investment will allow the studio to move ahead with its ambitious future endeavors.
“Tencent operates one of the most successful online games platforms, so it is fantastic news that they wish to back our business. We are now part of an extended family of amazing games companies who have been backed by Tencent,” Vincent Scheurer, Operations Director/Co-founder of Payload Studios, commented.
“This investment will have a transformative effect on Payload Studios and provides us with the capital we require to grow while preserving our autonomy. We can now accelerate our recruitment plans substantially and bring even more world-class talent to our team. This investment is a validation of seven years of hard work from our team, who built a community-driven development and publishing business from scratch with practically no initial capital,” Scheurer said.
Tencent’s investments and partnerships in British game studios are nothing new. Prior to Payload Studios, Tencent’s other investments and partnerships include Sumo Digital, Frontier Developments, Miniclip, among others.
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