Splash Damage, the studio recognized for titles like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Brink, Gears Tactics, and the no-longer-ongoing Transformers: Reactivate, has officially parted ways with Tencent and is now under private equity ownership.

This transition was announced through a statement shared with GamesIndustry, in which the studio confirmed it will continue under its current leadership but opted not to provide additional comments for the time being.

Founded almost 25 years ago by mod creators in 2001, Splash Damage gained recognition with its early work on multiplayer maps for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Their successful legacy continued with more projects like Enemy Territory games, Brink, Dirty Bomb, as well as multiplayer aspects in Gears of War 4 and Gears 5.

After being acquired by Chinese holding company Leyou in 2016, it was taken over by Tencent in 2020, leading to its current situation. Despite its superbly crafted game Gears Tactics having been launched in 2020, it did not achieve lasting success and the studio suffered from losses.

The most significant hit came earlier in the year when the anticipated Transformers: Reactivate was cancelled, triggering expected layoffs among the staff. Following this update, they recently retweeted coverage about their split from Tencent. The exit from a company once heavily involved in gaming investment suggests a curious fate for the studio. However, there’s a shimmer of hope, as in 2023, Twitch figures Mike “Shroud” Grzesiek and Chris “Sacriel” Ball announced a partnership with Splash Damage for the development of an open-world survival-shooter titled Project Astrid, although updates have been quiet on that front.