Tencent’s TiMi Studio, the developer of “Honor of Kings” “Pokémon UNITE” and “Call of Duty: Mobile”, is setting up a new studio in Singapore, according to SCMP citing people familiar with the matter. 

It will be Tencent’s first studio in the Southeast Asia tech hub and TiMi’s fourth overseas studio after Los Angeles, Seattle and Montreal, said SCMP.

The Singapore operation also aims to support TiMi’s recently established F1 studio, which is developing a metaverse-like gaming experience, according to SCMP.

While Timi’s F1 studio described its games as “AAA, open-world”, and avoided using the term “metaverse”, several of Tencent’s high-level executives including its founder Pony Ma have spoken about metaverse on multiple occasions.

“We will contribute more efforts and resources into the metaverse than more people expected, Metaverse will be a core part of our business development in the future” said Pony Ma, according to a previous PingWest report.

At China’s annual gaming event ChinaJoy in June, Tencent’s senior executive Liu Ming said the company will adopt Metaverse to develop a super virtual and digital scene where users can communicate with one another in real time.

Tencent has already applied for many trademarks related to the metaverse, such as “Timi metaverse,” “Peace metaverse,” and “Kings metaverse” since the beginning of September. “Timi” refers to Tencent’s Timi gaming studio, while “Kings” and “Peace” refer to two of Tencent’s mobile games.

Tencent has not released any official statements regarding the new studio.

In addition to game development, Tencent’s global expansion is also focusing on game publishing. According to Tencent’s official announcement on December 7, it is launching Level Infinite, “a new brand dedicated to delivering high-quality games to a global audience.”

Level Infinite’s initial publishing release slate include Klei Entertainment’s Don’t Starve New home, Proxima Beta’s Arena of Valor, Next Studios’ Synced: Off Planet as well as projects from Lightspeed & Quantum Studios and TiMi Studio.

The new game publishing brand is based in Amsterdam and Singapore, providing studios support and services, from technology to production assistance, and market insight and analysis, along with assistance in esports integrations and international publishing.

"Level Infinite's launch represents the next stage in Tencent Games' evolution as a global publisher and trusted brand," said Tencent Games Global CEO Michelle Liu.

According to a previous PingWest article, Chinese tech companies see a rising need to separate their domestic business from their overseas business, as tensions continue to mount due to Chinese regulators’ increasingly tight grip.

Last October, Tencent has opened an office in Singapore, joining Alibaba and ByteDance in using the city state for a launching pad into the rest of Asia.

China’s National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) issues video game licenses for all games in China. Typically, they would publish approved games either in the middle or at the end of each month. The NPPA has not published any titles since August.

The halt comes after regulators summoned gaming companies including Tencent, NetEase, and others for a meeting, requiring them to take measures to tackle gaming addiction, such as limiting the time that minors can access video games.