Tencent continues expansion by acquiring Turtle Rock Studios

Turtle Rock Studios acquired by Tencent

Turtle Rock Studios was acquired by Tencent earlier this month, and the existing management team will “continue to run all studio operations.”

“We are all looking forward to joining the Tencent family of studios,” said president and general manager Steve Goldstein. This means the studio can pursue the “kinds of ambitious games we dream of”.

• Tencent acquired Riot Games in 2011
• Majority stakes in Fatshark, Klei Entertainment and Yager
• Owns Leyou Technology Holdings, which includes Splash Damage and other devs
• Large stakes in Dontnod Entertainment and Bloober Team
• Smaller stakes in Frontier Developments and Remedy

Acquisitions: Turtle Rock recently launched Back 4 Blood, and it will remain the studio's focus for the immediate future. Tencent owns stakes in a wide range of game companies, including a 40% stake in Epic Games.

Going global: They have also invested in Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard, and the westward expansion is mostly a result of Chinese regulators cracking down on the games industry, slowing growth in the domestic market.

What year was the Great Video Game Crash?

a) 1979
b) 1983
c) 1985
d) 1987

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today's issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.

Dynasty Warriors 9 rides to war in Japan

Open-world hack-and-slasher Dynasty Warriors 9 is out in Japan this week, but won't reach the rest of the world until February next year. The end of the year looks like it will be pretty quiet, but January will bring Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction and Pokémon Legends: Arceus, as well as God of War for PC.

Thursday – December 23rd

• Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires for PC, NS, PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX

New Ghostbusters game in development

Actor Ernie Hudson has confirmed that there’s “definitely” a new Ghostbusters game in the works, and that both he and Dan Aykroyd are involved – although he's not sure Bill Murray is in.

“I just got an e-mail, because we’re doing another video game,” Hudson said during a panel at the Celebrity Fan Fest in San Antonio, Texas. The game is in development at Illfonic in Colorado.

Likeness: “They’ve been sending me prototypes of the character to get the image right, which they seem to have a hard time somehow creating my image,” he added, joking that he looks like Eddie Murphy.

Still early: Hudson doesn't know much about the project outside of his involvement, and didn't say anything about the story. Ghostbusters: The Video Game from 2009 was “essentially the third movie” according to Aykroyd.

Brave Browser rewards you for surfing

Maybe your internet connection is fast, but what about your browser? The Brave Browser is built from the ground up for speed, privacy and providing an ad-free Internet.

You can opt-in for ads that respect your privacy, and even earn rewards. It’s quick and easy to use, featuring the same comforts and conveniences you expect from a modern browser.

Murder Diaries 3 – Santa’s Trail of Blood Giveaway for the Nintendo Switch

A Christmas flavoured mystery with a stocking full of insanity in our Murder Diaries 3 – Santa's Trail of Blood Giveaway, and we’ve got festive keys for the Nintendo Switch.

You’ll be a free-floating ghost-like being exploring the world and finding memory fragments all to the narration of a young man as he slides ever more into madness. Merry Christmas!

• 5 more Genesis games were added to Switch Online, including Altered Beast, ToeJam & Earl, and Thunder Force II
• Back 4 Blood December update includes a new progress system allowing unlocks from an offline campaign and more
• GSC Game World promises to “cancel anything NFT-related” following major fan backlash over proposed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. metaverse
• More Settlers on the way from Ubisoft, as it promises “more news” in January
• Today's free Epic Games Store title will be Loop Hero, that's according to Dealabs user Billbill-Kun who has a track record of correctly revealing PS Plus and Epic Game Store games
• Psygnosis founder Ian Hetherington has passed away, legacy includes iconic games like Lemmings and Wipeout

What year was the Great Video Game Crash?

ANSWER: 1983!

Conventional wisdom has it that the ET game for Atari 2600 sparked the great 1983 videogame crash, but the truth is that the games market was hardly hale and healthy at the time. It was saturated, lacked quality control, and was quickly losing customer confidence. Companies like Atari and Mattel faced massive losses, with Atari alone losing over $300 million.

The crash was mostly isolated to the US market. Japan and England were mostly unscathed since most games and computers were produced locally. Nintendo saw an opportunity to expand into the now barren US market, and their careful introduction of the NES revived interest in games by the mid-90s. Moral of the story? Don't phone home!

Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Erlend Grefsrud, Simon Priest, and Jamie Davey. If you have any feedback or news tips for the team, please email us!