Depends on the equity structure. It's possible to retain control with a minority of shares, by issuing non-participating / non-voting shares to the majority. A lot of families do this when they take companies public. Doubt GGG will share these details with us.

More pessimistically, this basically heralds the end of POE as we know it. It won't be obvious right away, but the quaint charm and spark of magic that come from passion will give way to the need to placate shareholders and push in a totally different market.

Seen many independent IPs get gobbled up by big studios - the games that come out of that are commercial successes, but lack soul. For an example that is close to home, look at D2 and D3. D3 isn't a bad game, its just the kind of game a "big" studio develops.

Lighty called this last year when they exported to China, but this announcement puts a lot of things in perspective. Namely, the rush to finish 10 acts, the focus on making the game easier and more user-friendly.

No. We spoke to CEOs of other companies that Tencent has invested in, and have been assured that Tencent has never tried to interfere with game design or operations outside of China. We retain full control of Path of Exile and will only make changes that we feel are best for the game.

I've worked 10+ years in the financial sector. I've seen this promise made and broken 100 times. Of course it's never the intention, but CEOs change, presidents change, economic realities change, and this promise eventually gets broken 100% of the time.