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'We don't have shareholders, but we also don't think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climate (www.pcgamer.com)

submitted 8 months ago by simple@lemm.ee to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 135 points 8 months ago

Larian Studios does technically have a single shareholder in Tencent—which owns around 30% of the company. However, an important piece of context is that Tencent appears to own what's called a "preference" share, meaning that Tencent doesn't have voting rights when it comes to Larian's decision making. The rest of the company belongs to CEO and Founder Swen Vincke and his wife.

Interesting, did not know that.

[+] CosmoNova@lemmy.world -45 points 8 months ago

Few people do because Larian keeps lying about it. Part of me understands you don‘t go around telling people a Chinese government asset has big money in your company, given the ongoing genocide and all (speaking of toxic work environment eh) but it‘s publicly accessible information anyway. They‘ve been so consistently dishonest about it that I can‘t take them all that serious about anything anymore. Because alternatively to lying they could just… shut up and keep making great games. They don‘t need that sugar coating.

[-] Wootz@lemmy.world 52 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Did you not read the article?

Tencent own preference stock. They could sell their stock, which could potentially harm the company, but they hold no voting rights and carry no decision making power.

I am not a fan of China, nor Tencent, but spewing bile without understanding the context does NOT help this discourse.

[-] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 4 points 8 months ago

Can't see how it would harm the company. Stocks and shares are just a way to raise money in a company. I'll sell you x% for $yk and own that amount now.

Even with normal shares 30% is a minority stake especially if a single entity owns the other 70% (ie. You can express your opinion but I outvote you every time). Unless Larian are planning to raise additional funds by selling equity and need the stock price to remain high for that reason, Tencent are free to sell their portion without any impact to Larian. (Heck a drop might even let Larian buy itself back)

[-] Dremor@lemmy.world -4 points 8 months ago

If Tencent sell its shares, it would make the share price plummet, which will make it harder for the studio to get money by selling new shares.

[-] bitwaba@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago

They're not publicly traded, and the only shares are the ones that Tencent owns. The shares are worth whatever someone buys them for. The price doesn't fluctuate because there's no market with which they are traded on

[-] Dremor@lemmy.world -4 points 8 months ago

You are half right, half wrong.

It is true that a non publicly traded firm won't see an immediate effect if one of the shareholder leave the ship, but businesses work on trust. If Tencent sell its share, it is a sign that it doesn't trust the studio anymore. Thus, potential private investors, like banks, will be more hesitant to work with them, and will ask for higher rates to compensate for that perceived lose of trust. Thus, hurting the Studio.