Tencent’s “North Stars” are Larian and FromSoftware as examples of studios that have developed a distinctive genre focus over multiple releases—not templates for copying Baldur’s Gate 3 or Elden Ring. Tencent Games executive Yong-yi Zhu described the ambition as working with developers over time as they hone their craft and make progress toward category leadership.
What Tencent means by “North Stars”
In an interview with The Game Business, Tencent Games vice president and head of operations, strategy, and compliance Yong-yi Zhu said the company looks for talented developers with unique visions and a clear creative direction. He described Larian and FromSoftware as examples because, in his account, both studios spent years working within particular genres and iterating on them.
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“For us, it’s more about chasing high-quality talent and people that are bringing unique visions, have a very specific vision,” Zhu said. “We love to work with developers that are trying to hone their craft.”
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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The remarks point to a studio-development philosophy: find teams with a strong identity, then support their progress across releases. They do not amount to a public plan to reproduce either studio’s games or a detailed investment strategy.
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The different paths Zhu cited
Zhu used different game sequences to illustrate how each studio built experience in its own creative territory. These are the examples he named, not complete catalogs of either developer’s work.
| Studio | Sequence Zhu cited | What it illustrates |
|---|---|---|
| Larian | Multiple Divinity games leading to Baldur’s Gate 3 | Accumulated experience in role-playing games and continued work within that genre |
| FromSoftware | Demon’s Souls, then Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and finally Elden Ring | A distinct body of work developed through successive games in a recognizable action-RPG space |
The comparison is about sustained craft and genre focus, not a claim that the studios use the same formula. The report offers no quantitative comparison of their budgets, sales, team sizes, or development timelines.
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Does Tencent want to make the next Larian or FromSoftware?
Zhu’s comments describe a willingness to work with developers who believe they can become leaders in a genre, even if that takes several games. “We want to work with you if you believe one day you can be the category leader in this particular genre,” he said. “That could be today, two games from now, or three games from now, as long as we see that progress. That is the long-term commitment.”
He also stressed that the cited partnerships were not overnight success stories. Read together, the remarks suggest Tencent values visible development over time: a studio should bring a specific vision and demonstrate progress as it hones its craft. They do not establish that Tencent has announced a particular new studio, project, or timetable for producing another Larian or FromSoftware.
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How this fits Tencent’s broader game strategy
Zhu contrasted premium games released every few years with evergreen live-service games. He said the latter’s continuing cadence gives Tencent some insulation from industry-wide swings. That is Zhu’s assessment of the business, not an independently established guarantee against volatility.
He also described a risk-management approach in which teams are kept smaller during concept development and pre-production, which he characterized as the riskier part of a project. The report does not provide specific team sizes or explain how consistently this approach is applied.
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What the partnership context does—and does not—show
GamesRadar+ reports that Tencent owns minority but significant shares in Larian and holds shares in Kadokawa, the owner of FromSoftware. The report gives no percentages; those holdings should not be taken as evidence that Tencent controls either studio. The remarks frame the developers as reference points for studio-building, but do not spell out a new ownership or funding plan.
GamesRadar+ published Austin Wood’s report on October 5, 2026, attributing the remarks to Zhu’s interview with The Game Business. The report links to the interview video, whose page did not provide a transcript; the quoted wording here follows GamesRadar+’s accessible text report.
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