As many gamers have noted, titles such as Assassin’s Creed possess a remarkable amount of educational value with their accurate modeling of historic cities and monuments.

With this in mind, Tencent’s quest to become Ubisoft’s largest private shareholder should not be taken lightly.ĭuring the coronavirus pandemic, Ubisoft released numerous history games and online experiences for children who were forced to learn at home. While the China-friendly changes to some titles were reversed after fans expressed outrage, it is evident that game studios are increasingly worried about pleasing Tencent and the Chinese Communist Party. The company was forced to roll back those changes, however, after players in North America and Europe promised never to play the game again if the changes remained. Changes included eliminating gambling symbolism and skulls from playable environments. For example, in 2021, Ubisoft made visual changes to certain games so it could sell them in China. In 2018, Tencent acquired 5 percent of the studio and subsequently began to exert its influence over the company. Last week, Tencent announced that it aims to acquire a greater stake in the French studio Ubisoft, which is behind popular titles such as Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six Siege. While many are rightfully concerned about the growing influence of video-based social media platform TikTok and the Chinese government’s ability to harvest incredible amounts of user data from it, China’s largest social media and video game studio, Tencent, has quietly been acquiring a commanding stake in the most popular video game companies around the world, and no one has seemed to notice.įrom Riot Games’ flagship title Valorant to the popular Epic Games-produced Fortnite, Tencent and the Chinese Communist Party are inserting propaganda and influencing a generation of children around the world while their parents aren’t looking.

Reflect studio games