Chinese gaming and internet giant Tencent has announced it’s agreed to acquire a minority stake in Epic Games producers of the Unreal Engine and games including Gears of War.

In China, Tencent runs social networks, web portals, e-commerce and MMO services, with almost 650 million users.

Epic state they will continue to operate independently, with the deal expected to go through within the next month.

“We’ve developed a huge amount of respect for the Epic team for many years now, as dedicated players of Epic’s games and as licensees of Epic’s Unreal Engine technology. Epic’s deep commitment to quality across all of its games and technologies inspires us. They’ve been raising expectations in gaming for two decades now and they’re just getting started,” said David Wallerstein, Senior Executive Vice President of Tencent.

“We have a lot that we can learn from each other, and we look forward to supporting the Epic team as they embark on their next phase of gaming innovation across both emerging and familiar platforms.”

Epic Games President Dr. Michael Capps welcomed the investment from Tencent.

“Tencent’s investment will empower Epic to help us do even more of what we do best, which is making great games and game technology. Their expertise in the global online gaming market is second-to-none, and the opportunity to work with them to bring richer experiences to players all over the world is irresistible,” he said.

“Epic is excited to be full steam ahead on all of its current plans for this generation of games and the next, with the support of a fantastic partner that believes in our strategy and shares our dream.”  Capps added.

Train2Game recently partnered with Epic Games for Make Something Unreal Live, a contest that saw student teams building mobile games based on the Fighting Fantasy series using the Unreal Engine.

There’s more Epic Games news here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your thoughts on Tencent acquiring a minority stake in Epic Games?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on The Train2Game forum.