Hounded at home, China's video game firms welcomed in Europe
China is investing billions in Europe's video game industry, but analysts have warned that there could be trouble along the road unless regulators start to take stricter notice.
Europe is embroiled in long-running disputes with Beijing over trade, environment, education, raw materials, intellectual property -- but so far video games are not part of the fight.
As Beijing tightens up on the video game industry at home, China's tech giants are looking to make investments overseas -- prompting concerns ranging from data security to limits on creative freedom.
"Europe has this idea that we will be able to separate strategic industries from non-strategic industries," Antonia Hmaidi from the Mercator Institute think-tank told AFP.
"Video games for most policymakers will always go into the non-strategic pile."
This has helped Tencent, the world's largest games company by revenue, to buy into studios across Europe -- including the then world-record $8.6 billion deal for Finnish firm Supercell in 2016.
Chinese rival NetEase made its biggest foray into foreign gaming studios in August, snaffling French firm Quantic Dream -- just days before Tencent upped its stake in Ubisoft, another French studio.
EU regulators only look at major investments with a pan-European dimension, and national regulators have shown no interest.
When Tencent bought British studio Sumo for $1.3 billion last year, the deal was scrutinised not by UK regulators but by their US counterparts. - 'Cold' China - Chinese firms are increasingly seeking profits abroad, analysts say, because of stifling restrictions in their home market.
Tencent recorded its first-ever quarterly loss in August on the back of a wide-ranging crackdown on the tech sector.
The Chinese government has
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