In a significant development, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) has officially classified Tencent, the Chinese technology conglomerate, and battery maker CATL as Chinese military companies. This designation, while not accompanied by immediate legal consequences such as sanctions, poses a reputational risk and complicates business operations for these companies in the United States.
Tencent, founded in 1998 by Ma Huateng (Pony Ma) alongside co-founders Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan, and Zeng Liqing, began its journey with the instant messaging platform QQ, inspired by ICQ. Ma Huateng, a computer science graduate with a telecommunications background, has faced speculation regarding Tencent’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Allegations suggest the company may have been influenced by top CCP generals connected to the Jiang Zemin faction, implying potential ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and access to military-grade technologies.
Tencent’s expansive portfolio in global entertainment media, coupled with recent forays into artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and cloud computing, domains critical for modern warfare and surveillance has raised further concerns. These ventures position Tencent not only as a corporate powerhouse but also as a potential instrument for advancing China’s military objectives under the facade of consumer-focused services.
While the immediate implications of this designation for Tencent remain unclear, the company’s extensive reach into global industries cannot be ignored. Tencent wholly owns gaming giants like Riot Games alongside Grinding Gear Games, the developers behind the renowned Path of Exile series.
Tencent has made significant investments in a diverse array of gaming companies, holding substantial stakes in leading developers and publishers worldwide. These include a 40% stake in Epic Games since 2012, known for the Unreal Engine and “Fortnite,” and an 84.3% stake in Supercell, the Finnish creators of “Clash of Clans” and “Clash Royale,” acquired in 2016.
As of 2024, Tencent increased its stake in Ubisoft to 9.2% with potential plans for further investment, and it has held a 5% stake in Activision Blizzard since 2013, the company behind “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft.” Tencent also holds a 5% stake in Swedish publisher Paradox Interactive, known for strategy games like “Crusader Kings,” and a 9% stake in Frontier Developments, the British developers of “Elite Dangerous” and “Planet Coaster.”
Other notable investments include a minority stake in Bluehole Studio, creators of “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,” and significant stakes in Kakao Games, Grinding Gear Games, Fatshark, Funcom, and PlatinumGames. Tencent’s portfolio spans a range of innovative developers such as Bohemia Interactive, Klei Entertainment, Yager Development, Playtonic Games, and 10 Chambers Collective.
Further acquisitions include stakes in companies like Wake Up Interactive, Inflexion Games, 1C Entertainment, Tequila Works, Offworld Industries, Triternion, Novarama, and Riffraff Games. Recent investments include Techland, known for “Dying Light,” Visual Arts, a prominent name in Japanese visual novels, Lighthouse Games, Kuro Games, and Game Science, developers of “Black Myth: Wukong.” Additionally, Tencent holds stakes in Chinese firms such as iDreamSky, Century Huatong, and Wangyuan Shengtang, further cementing its influence across the global gaming industry.
Additionally, reports suggest Tencent is in negotiations for a potential takeover of Ubisoft, further consolidating its influence in the gaming sector. Much like Western financial titans BlackRock and Vanguard, Tencent operates as a global investment powerhouse with a portfolio spanning entertainment, gaming, healthcare, and fintech.
At first glance, these investments may seem purely business-driven, but a deeper analysis reveals a more strategic intent. Tencent’s investment strategies parallel those of firms like BlackRock, including practices such as facilitating short selling by lending out shares and collecting premiums. However, Tencent’s influence extends beyond profit generation, intertwining with broader geopolitical and strategic objectives.
Tencent’s investment approach often aligns with advancing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards, frameworks supposedly designed to encourage corporate responsibility. In reality, these are little more than tools for ideological meddling. By funneling money into companies and projects that adhere to ESG principles, the likes of BlackRock pressures them into adopting policies that align with its own ideological agenda, the greater your scoring the increased likelihood that ESG-backed investment firms will grace your company with their wealth.
In the West however, this has fueled the plague of “wokeness” infecting media and entertainment industries. Movies and video games are now overrun by political activists masquerading as creatives, churning out half-assed garbage that nobody actually enjoys. Fun has taken a backseat to ideological preaching, and the result? Financial disasters for some of the biggest names in the industry, rotting it from the inside out.
Tencent’s grip on Western media is undeniable, especially in the video game industry, where it holds major stakes in giants like Riot Games (League of Legends), Epic Games (Fortnite), and Activision Blizzard (Call of Duty). Coincidence or not, this influence has come hand-in-hand with a blatant shift in content and cultural narratives, turning what used to be immersive and enjoyable experiences into ideological soapboxes that alienate consumers.
The ESG model, championed by Vanguard, BlackRock, and Tencent, has sweeping implications. These investment strategies strong-arm companies into adopting socially and politically charged agendas. What many assume to be grassroots activism driving the spread of “wokeness” in Western media is often just corporate puppeteering tied to ESG scoring.
Companies are now tossing out traditional gender terms like “male” and “female” in favor of neutral ones, slapping an “inclusive” sticker on censored content to avoid offending any “marginalized” group. And creative freedom? That’s been gutted. God forbid anything gets labeled “transphobic” or “fatphobic.”
But ESG doesn’t stop there, it goes even further by erasing depictions of traditional femininity in gaming altogether. Instead, game developers are obsessed with churning out hyper-masculine or androgynous creatures, as if the mere existence of a biological woman is a crime.
The result? Sanitized, soulless narratives and a pathetic parade of tokenized diversity pretending to be progress. It’s not progress, it’s pandering wrapped in ideological garbage.
ESG-driven mandates don’t just kill creative freedom, they ram forced inclusivity down everyone’s throat. Representation is reduced to a lifeless box-ticking exercise, with characters and stories that are uninspired and dreadful.
Meanwhile, Tencent and its Western pals, Vanguard and BlackRock, are busy exploiting this system to shove their ideological goals onto everyone else. And here’s the kicker: they do it at the expense of profitability and consumer satisfaction. While the Western gaming market stumbles toward its slow, painful demise, China and Korea are happily stepping in with their free-to-play gacha games.
These games, still featuring attractive female characters aimed at a heterosexual audience, stand in stark contrast to the Western industry’s self-sabotage. Maybe this whole ESG push is just another way for China to slide into the driver’s seat of the gaming industry?
The DoD’s designation of Tencent as a Chinese Military Company highlights growing fears about global corporations cozying up to communist regimes. Tencent’s position as a tech giant with massive international investments makes it a dual-purpose entity, advancing both commercial and military goals. This raises major red flags, especially when Tencent-backed games deploy anti-cheat systems requiring kernel-level access to your system.
Games like Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Mobile, and Riot Games’ Valorant (with its Vanguard anti-cheat running even when the game isn’t active) have all faced accusations of being spyware, potentially enabling surveillance.
It’s no stretch to assume this user data is ending up in the hands of the Chinese government for intelligence or surveillance purposes. Tencent, of course, denies everything, claiming kernel-level access is purely for technical reasons. They say they’re all about privacy and security, particularly in markets like the U.S. and Europe.
But let’s be real: trusting a communist? Hard pass.
This classification isn’t just a bureaucratic stamp; it’s a wake-up call about the risks of corporate influence intertwined with CCP objectives. Tencent’s technological achievements and investments have reshaped industries, but their alignment with CCP goals and ESG-driven agendas raises serious ethical and national security concerns.
As governments and industries grapple with these challenges, policymakers need to step up and address the dangerous intersection of corporate power, ideology, and geopolitics. And consumers? We’ve got to stay sharp. The products we use and the platforms we trust are often tangled in narratives far more sinister than they appear.
