Tencent acquires majority stake in Riot Games for a rumored $400 million

Riot Games has announced that Chinese firm Tencent Holings, an internet service provider, has purchased a majority stake in the firm for $400 million.

According to the press release, the purchase will allow the firm to operate independently under its current management team.

Financial terms of the agreement were not released, however, a source close to VentureBeat claims the figure to be somewhere around the $400 million mark.

"This is exciting news for 'League of Legends' players and the existing Riot Games team,” said Riot CEO Brandon Beck. "Tencent's investment will provide our talented team of designers, developers and community staff with additional resources to focus on innovating around ‘League of Legends’ and launching new projects that push the boundaries in the gaming space."

Beck also told Gamasutra that the deal between the two firm's was "unusual as acquisitions go, in the sense that there's an incredible amount of autonomy and independence that both companies are trying to create," which he said was "critical," to Riot Games.

Riot Games will maintain its headquarters in Los Angeles, and plans to "hire aggressively in 2011 across all of its offices," while also bringing its League of Legends title into new markets and also creating new games.

League of Legends is expected to get a new co-op vs AI mode sometime in the near future.