Tencent Enhances Venture Lab Initiative to Empower Early-Stage Developers Globally

Tencent, the world's largest gaming company, is bolstering its efforts to support early-stage developers through its Venture Lab initiative. This business unit provides new studios with the necessary resources to deliver their first game, including investment, publishing, marketing support, consulting, access to technology, business planning, and budgeting. The team, led by Juno Shin, who has 12 years of experience in business development and investment within Tencent, has gathered a team of industry experts to expand the operation's services. Venture Lab has already provided support to Last Epoch by remote indie studio Eleventh Hour Games and Enshrouded by German developer Keen, which has recently surpassed three million players seven months after its launch. With these projects thriving, Shin believes that now is the ideal time to make Venture Lab a more official and public offering. The primary goal is to utilize the team's experience to help early-stage studios avoid common pitfalls and maximize the success rate of their first game. Venture Lab is the latest initiative by Tencent to assist third-party developers, following the launch of its Level Infinite publishing label. Since every business grows step by step, Venture Lab focuses on the crucial first steps, and Shin notes that the success rate for debut games is not high, but helping developers cross the chasm from zero to one is a great pride for the team. Tencent is the largest and one of the highest-earning companies in the gaming industry, thanks to its internally developed titles and ownership of various game development studios. Given the company's size, it is asked if Tencent has a responsibility to support early-stage studios and indies to foster a healthier global gaming ecosystem. Shin notes that while Tencent can help the industry, it ultimately benefits from these efforts, as innovations often come from small studios. The company believes that supporting early-stage studios is in its best interest, allowing for co-creation of successes and enjoyment of creative and financial breakthroughs.