Chinese tech giants are expanding in the West, and now Tencent has closed a major acquisition.

Tencent and NetEase are the two tech companies that have made their mark in the games industry in one form or another (with acquisitions or investments), and Tencent, in particular, is often seen to be stretching its legs. Here is the announcement of their new haul, Slamfire, which in itself almost certainly sounds unfamiliar. Slamfire is the parent company of Turtle Rock Studios…

This acquisition brings the developers of Left 4 Dead, Evolve and Back 4 Blood to Tencent. Still, they will remain headquartered in Lake Forest, California, and the current studio heads, Phil Robb and Chris Ashton (two co-founders), will not be leaving. While we’re on the subject of Back 4 Blood, we should add that the acquisition of Tencent has no impact on the game, as Warner Bros. Games published it.

Steve Goldstein, President and General Manager of Turtle Rock Studios, wrote in the press release, “We are all looking forward to joining the Tencent family of studios. Tencent’s outstanding partners, global reach, deep knowledge of gaming, and unprecedented support will help us create the kinds of ambitious games we dream of while allowing us to retain our autonomy and independent spirit.” (They’ll have to censor their ideas… in return, they’d likely get almost immediate access to the Chinese games market.)

Eddie Chan, International Strategy Manager at Tencent Games, added, “We are huge fans of Turtle Rock’s games, especially their unique approach to creating co-operative online games. We can’t wait to see what comes next, and we’re excited to be part of their future.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if Turtle Rock were to work on a game for the Chinese market suddenly.

Source: Gematsu