Today the developers of both Yooka-Laylee games, Playtonic, announced that they have sold a minority stake of shares to the Chinese tech giant, Tencent. Playtonic will retain full control over its IP and will use the investment to expand its team which includes its development and publishing business, Playtonic Friends, and to also improve its HQ and move additional new locations,
In an interview with Gameindustry.biz, Playtonic managing director Gavin Price expanded on the decision to team up with Tencent. Price was quite blunt and open in the interview with Gameindustry.biz, telling them that Tencent is offering money, resources, and expertise to Playtonic when they need it. Price also boiled it all down and added: “But ultimately, this is about more games from us. We want to do more games more often.”
Indeed the plan according to Price is to have three separate teams working on different projects, hiring more people, doing more with Playtonic Friends, and growing into more of a force in the video game industry in general.
Playtonic the developer has released two games so far the original 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee and its “sequel” of sorts, a 2D platformer, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. As a huge fan of platformers myself, I can confidently say both are great games, but Impossible Lair stands out as one of the best 2D platformers released in recent memory.
As a publisher, Playtonic has been involved in the release of Demon Turf, BPM: Bullets Per Minute, and A Little Golf Journey.
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