Tencent pours 9-figure amount into Chinese game developer

Wizard Games, a Chinese game development studio of “leisure competitive” online titles, has raised several hundred million yuan in investment from Tencent, reaching a nine-figure amount.

Battle Teams 2 / Photo credit: Wizard Games

Founded in 2012, Wizard Games is the developer and publisher behind the shooter game Battle Teams, which it claims to have accumulated over 500 million users worldwide and 30 million monthly active users.

The company employs over 300 people who are working on browser, mobile, and client-based games and says it has developed and published more than 10 gaming products.

With the new funds, the Hangzhou-based company will continue building its game development team, strengthening its international market, and creating online games and new brands for PC, console, and mobile platforms.

Wizard Games is looking to follow Battle Teams with Battle Teams 2, which is scheduled for global release in 2021, on top of working on new products and new genres of games.

It’s also looking to release Sea of Craft, a maritime sandbox construction game that uses realistic simulated physics, next year.

See also: China-Singapore game publisher went from making $1m to $181m within a year

According to a report by Research and Markets, the Chinese digital gaming market is expected to reach US$83.79 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15.4% from 2018 to 2023.

Major players in the market include Tencent, which published Game for Peace, the Chinese version of PUBG Mobile, and Honor of Kings, as well as NetEase, the developer and publisher of games such as Onmyoji and Rules of Survival.