Tencent hopes to negotiate with the US government to have it removed from a blacklist of firms believed to have ties with the Chinese military.
In late 2020, then US president Donald Trump signed an executive order to prevent US companies from investing in any firms with ties to the Chinese military.
While not technically a form of sanction, this list of Chinese entities is part of the US’s efforts to counter Beijing’s allegedly abusive business practicesand limit their influence in the United States.
What does any of this have to do with video games? Well, with Trump set to take office again in a few weeks, the biggest games company in the world, Tencent, has found itself added to the Pentagon’s blacklist.
That isn’t hyperbole, by the way. Tencent is a massive media conglomerate and owns many developers and publishers, including Riot Games and its League Of Legends franchise.
It also has investments in many other games companies across the world, …