Marvelous ends partnership with Tencent unit; mobile Story of Seasons cancelled
Key takeaways
- Partnership between Marvelous and Image Frame began in May 2020.
- Image Frame owns 12,166,400 Marvelous shares (current largest shareholder).
- Story of Seasons mobile game development cancelled; linked to March 2019 license.
- The March 2019 license and other individual contracts remain in effect.
Marvelous has agreed to dissolve its capital and business tie with Image Frame Investment, a Tencent Group subsidiary that became a major shareholder after a May 2020 partnership. The two companies say they negotiated the split after Image Frame signalled an intention to sell Marvelous shares, and both sides agreed to end the cooperation.
Image Frame Investment currently holds 12,166,400 Marvelous shares and is the company's largest shareholder; the planned sale will remove it from that position. Separately, Tencent Group informed Marvelous that the mobile game based on the Story of Seasons (released under a March 2019 license agreement) will be halted. Tencent cited business environment and project profitability in its notice, according to the companies' disclosures.
The underlying license and other individual contracts tied to the Story of Seasons arrangement remain in force despite the cancellation of the mobile title. That means the contractual framework Marvelous signed in March 2019 is still active even though the Tencent-led project has stopped.
Why it matters
Takeaway: Image Frame’s share sale will change Marvelous’ ownership makeup, and the Tencent-developed Story of Seasons mobile game is cancelled — but the original license agreement is still legally intact, leaving contractual options open.
Original source
Google News: 4Gamer mobile
