Tencent Games Announce Venture Lab Unit at Gamescom

Venture Lab will be globally headed by Juno Shin and will expand its support and capabilities to help early-game developers grow. Venture Lab was also involved in the launch of Enshrouded by German developer Keen Games.
Venture Lab provides early-stage studios with the investment, expertise, tools and network they need not only to develop their games, but also to bring them to market and make them a success. For the Chinese company, it is another building block to highlight Tencent's commitment to the development of the global video games industry.
The new unit will be headed by Juno Shin, who was previously in charge of business development and investments in Europe and Japan at Tencent Games. Together with his experienced team, Venture Lab will provide publishing, marketing, production, consulting, technology, game data science and on-site support services
Shin commented: "The industry landscape is changing. We’re seeing a lot of smaller developers who are looking for much-needed support and expertise in their growth journey. Having spent the last decade driving Tencent Games business development and investment, I have first-hand experience of what it takes for an early-stage game developer to be successful. At Venture Lab, we work with these early-stage studios to help them solve bottleneck problems or fill in missing capabilities to maximize their potential. We’re building a team of experts and veterans who can provide the right support to move these early-stage developers through the lifecycle towards building successful games."
Although the unit has only just been formally launched, it has been involved in projects in the past. For example, Venture Lab worked with Eleventh Hour on the game Last Epoch. Venture Lab was also involved in the go-to-market strategy for German studio Keen Games' Enshrouded.