Tencent targets Japan anime, manga to jump-start global growth

Tencent has long regarded Japanese entertainment exports as an area ripe for optimisation, where better distribution and marketing strategies can generate vastly greater revenues. — Reuters

Tencent Holdings Ltd, spurned in years past by Japan’s guarded entertainment industry, is rekindling its courtship of the country’s fabled anime and manga houses.

The Chinese social media giant has in recent months scooped up slices of two prominent local studios, the brains behind smash hit Nier: Automata and Marvelous Inc. Those outlays are just the start of a spending spree designed to extend Tencent’s foothold in a key creative hub while imbibing Japan’s expertise in console game making and hit franchise creation, according to people familiar with its strategy. The Chinese firm is in negotiations with several other studios on potential investments, they said.