Report: Tencent wants to develop console games with help from Nintendo

Tencent is looking to expand outside of China by developing console games for players in the United States and Europe, and hopes recent partner Nintendo will give it a helping hand. 

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, an unnamed Tencent official explained the Chinese company is keen to learn the ropes of console development from Nintendo, and could also ask the Japanese company for permission to use its characters.

"What we want is to expand from China, and one target is console game players in the U.S. and Europe," said the anonymous Tencent official. "We hope to create console games with Nintendo characters, and learn the essence of making console games from Nintendo engineers."

The two companies joined forces earlier this year to bring the Switch to China, with Tencent coming onboard to assist with localization efforts and help get the console's online services up and running.

Although Tencent already has plenty of resources at its disposal due to the fact it owns or part-owns companies including Riot Games, Supercell, Epic Games, and Activision Blizzard, any deal that allowed it to use or feature Nintendo characters in its console games would still be a huge coup.

By expanding into the U.S. and Europe, Tencent would also be able to make headway outside of a Chinese market that, while still lucrative, has been hit hard by new game approval regulations.