Tencent has been designated a Chinese military company by the US Department of Defense, which the conglomerate calls a 'misunderstanding'

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Tencent

Tencent, one of the world’s largest videogame publishers, is also a Chinese military company, the US Department of Defense claims. Which has come as something of a surprise to the conglomerate, which has called the designation a “misunderstanding”.

The origins of the list go back to Trump’s first reign, and with his imminent return to the White House, the relationship between China and the US is likely to become even more strained. But for Tencent specifically, a spokesperson claims that this designation won’t have much of an impact, despite the effect on its stock.

“We are not a military company or supplier,” they told Bloomberg. “Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business. We will nonetheless work with the Department of Defense to address any misunderstanding.”

Companies included on the list can request to be removed, and this has precedent, so Tencent might be able to shake the new designation.

In a press briefing today, China’s Foreign Ministry hit back against the DoD list. “We urge the US to immediately correct its wrongdoings and end the illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction on Chinese companies.”

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It’s worth noting that the US military has also had a long relationship with the videogame industry. Indeed, the US Army is a videogame developer and publisher, releasing several games in theAmerica’s ArmyFPS series since 2002. And in 2021 Microsoft signed a $22 billion deal toprovide the US Army with AR headsets, designed to improve “situational awareness, target engagement, and informed decision-making”. Sounds like a military company to me.

The US Army even sponsored Call of Duty League, and had planned aneven larger campaign with Activision and Twitch streamersuntil the deal fell through due to sexual harassment allegations at the publisher.

More broadly, the US Army sees videogames as a recruitment tool, to the extent that it even created anesports teamand tried to get intoTwitch streaming (with hilarious results). And this has been going on since the 1980s. Shooters in particular are rife with jingoism, and military organisations the world over have long seen gamers as potential cannon fodder.

So if Tencent does have ties to the PLA, it’s not doing anything that plenty of US-based companies haven’t been openly doing for decades. But to be clear, it absolutely sucks whatever country it’s happening in, and gamers shouldn’t have to wonder if buying a game means they are indirectly supporting the military.

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