World news and discussion on TalkFuse.
Story of Seasons mobile game cancelled as Marvelous cuts six-year Tencent partnership
Marvelous, the Japanese publisher behind Story of Seasons and Rune Factory, is ending its six-year partnership with Tencent, resulting in the cancellation of a mobile Story of Seasons game that had been in development since 2019. The move follows broader reports that Tencent is reassessing and pulling back its stakes across several Japanese games companies amid a wider industry downturn, making this cancellation part of a larger pattern rather than an isolated decision.
Marvelous's board voted on 31st July to terminate its alliance with Image Frame Investment, a Hong Kong-based Tencent subsidiary that bought a 20 percent stake in the company in May 2020 for around £48 million ($65m), making it Marvelous's largest shareholder. Tencent cited "business environment and profitability" for scrapping the mobile game, though the original 2019 licensing agreement remains in place, leaving Marvelous free to seek a new mobile partner, and there is no indication the separate upcoming Story of Seasons console game is affected.
In short
- Marvelous ends six-year Tencent partnership, scrapping a mobile Story of Seasons game
- Tencent cited poor "business environment and profitability" for the cancellation
- Part of Tencent's wider pullback from Japanese games investments amid industry slump
Explained simply
Marvelous is a Japanese games company that makes Story of Seasons, a farming series in which players build a farm and relationships in a rural community. It also publishes Rune Factory, another series that mixes farming with fantasy adventures. Story of Seasons games have appeared on consoles and mobile phones.
Tencent is a Chinese technology company that invests in games businesses around the world. In 2020, its subsidiary Image Frame Investment bought a 20 per cent stake in Marvelous, becoming its largest shareholder. Their partnership included plans for a mobile Story of Seasons game.
The cancellation comes amid reports that Tencent is reviewing some of its investments in Japanese games companies. The change matters to Marvelous because it may need another partner to bring a mobile game to market; the series also has a separate console game in development.
Americas Art Culture Entertainment TV