Riot Games Are Now Owned Outright By Tencent
Which likely changes nothing.
Riot Games, makers of League of Legends [official site], are now owned outright by Tencent. The Chinese game publisher already owned the majority of the studio after acquisitions in 2008 and 2011, but they've now grabbed the remaining equity to take their ownership to 100%.
Because this is just the remaining 7.22% of the company changing hands, it's unlikely to lead to changes to League of Legends or how Riot Games operates. The only changes are likely to impact Riot staff, as the company has announced changes to how they compensate employees.
Tencent reportedly bought 85% of Riot Games for $350 million in 2011. That seems like a steal, considering that 27 million people are meant to play it every day. It's not been announced how much the remaining equity was sold for.
If Tencent isn't a familiar name to you, you haven't been paying attention. Aside from being an online media and advertising giant in China, they also own portions of Activision Blizzard and Epic Games.
Meanwhile, it doesn't take a new acquisition to bring change. As Pip detailed last month, massive changes are already coming to League of Legends, including a new client, changes to how ranked matches and character selection work, and more.