China’s Tencent, Kingsoft Form Game Alliance

Chinese tech titans Tencent and Kingsoft will soon begin operating their online games together.

Kingsoft and Tencent are reportedly planning to jointly operate JX3 Online, the flagship game product of Kingsoft. JX3 Online started public beta test in August 2009 and has been jointly operated by Kingsoft and Shanda since May 2010.

Previously, Tencent and Kingsoft reached an investment agreement, in which Tencent gained a 15.68% stake in Kingsoft for HKD892 million. At the same time, Tencent implemented a strategic investment in Kingsoft’s independent Internet security subsidiary Kingsoft Network. With that cooperation, Kingsoft’s security products would be available on Tencent’s open platform, and the two parties would share the cloud security platform. They said at that time that they would establish a long-term partnership to jointly provide an Internet security solution for users while implementing wider and deeper cooperation in application software and gaming sectors.

For Kingsoft Game, its President for Operations Wu Yimin resigned at the end of 2011, and the duty was taken over by Zou Tao, chief executive officer of Kingsoft’s Seasun Game Studio.