I can just hear the comments. They're going to be extreme. A whale-like cacophony from all sides of the ideological spectrum. That spectrum seems to dominate every part of our life these days, even video games. This is no indictment on the Chinese, or China as a country, or anything like that. It is an indictment on Tencent, and what the acquisition of Sackboy's beloved studio, Sumo Digital, means for this-here industry. The fact is: it's bleak, and it's a little bit chilling.
It's a story of hypocrisy, and a story of influence. A completely legal, yet fundamentally unethical way of doing business. Tencent's acquisition of Sumo Digital paves the way for increased foreign influence in the games we love, yet for the most part, the industry is silent. Why? Well, that's not too hard to understand. As usual, it comes down to money. A lot of money. I mean, would you turn down $1.3 billion? For context, that is almost half the GDP of Burundi, a country of about 11.53 million people. Would you turn down that money?
It almost goes without saying that you can't blame the companies involved. It's business, we get it. The problem is also not that Sackboy is a game that particularly utilizes its right to freedom of expression. It's more-or-less a fun-as-hell kids game, with a toy-like protagonist, some good friends, and some good platforming fun. What's there to complain about? After all, Tencent also owns Call of Duty Mobile, so why am I getting my knickers in a knot over this particular acquisition?
To be honest, I am troubled about Tencent and Activision teaming up for CoD Mobile, I just haven't written an opinion piece on it.
This is not to say that I disapprove of companies like Tencent trying their hand at video game development, the Chinese market is vast and insanely profitable, and everyone deserves to have access to top quality video games. The thing that I am trying to make very, very, very clear, is that my problem is not that I don't want Sackboy to be available in China, or anything of the sort. It is the ownership, and it is the ever-growing ownership, that troubles me. Why? Tencent is not just any company.
Tencent is the same company that owns WeChat and QQ, and it is known to be directly linked to the Chinese Communist Party. It owns holdings in a huge amount of the gaming industry at this point, and it's growing exponentially. It owns 100% of Riot Games, 40% of Epic Games, 5% in Activision, Ubisoft, Remedy, and even more. Let that sink in. A company that acts more-or-less as a wing of the Chinese Government owns huge swaths of the gaming industry – 100% of Riot Games – this is certainly not good if we want to preserve the rights of developers to freely create the content that they want to make. If they want to freely express their views, produce art that represents them, and operate in a free and fair industry, then this is a dangerous development.
So, where does that leave us? Well. I have been thinking about that, and have two questions that I want to ask and attempt to answer.
1. Is it a company's moral imperative not to sell to China?
It's never easy to say no to a deal like this, especially when the price offered to you is 43% above the market price. A deal struck in cash, Sumo Digital's purchase puts Tencent's ownership to over 10% of the company. This is nuts. But then again, it is only one aspect of the question.
There might be no legal imperative to not sell, but there is also no legal or financial reasoning to not sell your soul to the devil. Does that mean you should do it? Well, no, if you have any literary knowledge, have seen many films, or listened to much music, you'll probably have gathered that selling one's soul to the devil is an inherently idiotic thing to do. So, what the hell are these companies thinking?
I am no legal expert, I know very little about these things, but it also seems a bit odd that a company based in the United Kingdom can just simply be bought, for an insane amount of money, by a foreign-owned company with links the Chinese Communist Party. If they're doing it though, then it's probably legal, but at least in my opinion: if we want to retain the soul of the industry, then we need to make it a clear moral imperative that game developers and publishers should not sell their soul to China.
P.S. We will engage in a long-form conversation about this topic, and this column, in the third episode of The EarlyGame Podcast. Catch it on Spotify and other Podcast Services on Friday, August 13, 2021.
2. Can anything be done?
Well, yes. It might seem out of our reach, but continuing to apply pressure on games companies to not sell to businesses like Tencent can make a very real difference. We are not all beholden to the pressures of these companies, and honestly, if a decision is going to effect their bottom line, then perhaps there will be less of an incentive to take that decision. Boycott companies, don't buy Fortnite and LoL cosmetics items, avoid games developed by Tencent-affiliated companies. Don't engage. Oh, and continue to apply pressure. Talk about it. Support creators who want to express their creative freedoms, and their freedom of speech, in the industry that they love.
Burying our heads in the sand is a huge mistake. We need to be careful here. Be careful, or the soul of the industry may be lost forever.
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