Coupled with their desire to move away from being beholden to a publisher, Epic Games observed that the video game industry was shifting to a
games as a service model (GaaS). Sweeney stated "There was an increasing realization that the old model wasn't working anymore and that the new model was looking increasingly like the way to go."
[21] In an attempt to gain more GaaS experience, they made an agreement with Chinese
Tencent, who had several games under their banner (including
Riot Games'
League of Legends) operating successfully as games as a service.
[38] In exchange for Tencent's help, Tencent acquired approximately 48.4% of Epic then issued share capital, equating to 40% of total Epic — inclusive of both stock and employee stock options, for $330 million in June 2012. Tencent Holdings has the right to nominate directors to the board of Epic Games and thus counts as an associate of the Group.
[3] However, Sweeney stated that Tencent otherwise has very little control on the creative output of Epic Games.
[21]