God of War creator reportedly rejects $100 million Tencent offer

By Kes Eylers-Stephenson,

David Jaffe — the outspoken creator of God of War, Twisted Metal, and Drawn to Death — has claimed he received and rejected an offer from Chinese mega-corporation Tencent to direct a $100-million game.

Speaking to Colin Moriarty on his premium Sacred Symbols+ podcast (and transcribed by VGC), David Jaffe has made the claim that the western branch of Chinese corporation Tencent reached out to see if he wanted to direct a game for it, something the creator said he didn't want to do because of the political affiliations of the company.

“I had a $100-million deal,” Jaffe said. “I was courted by a Chinese company… and I said ‘no, thank you' because you’re Tencent and I want nothing to do with you."

“It was bad because it was the western Tencent, and it was a western guy that I respect that was calling me and I wasn’t trying to shame the guy," Jaffe continued. "I hope he’s got thick enough skin, and he’s been an executive in the business way longer than I have, but I was just like ‘man, I don’t want to do business with a company like that, with a government like that.'”

One of the reasons Jaffe says he turned down the alleged offer is due to the Uyghur genocide committed by the Chinese government and the current autocratic political state. “Stop killing people,” Jaffe went on to say. “Again, people will be like, ‘America’s hands aren’t clean!’ No, they are not clean at all, but we’re also not, you know — we all have a system that if we actually gave a shit, we could change it.

“In China, you just get picked up off the street if you go online and say something bad about the police or the government or anything and who knows when they’ll see you again. That’s not even mentioning if you’re a fucking Uyghur.”

Visible above is a tweet which Jaffe claims is his response to the offer, in which he says he is "flattered," but "can't square the China thing in my head." Without the recipient involved in the email chain or an official confirmation, the response probably shouldn't be considered evidence enough. That being said, Jaffe has always seemed willing to speak out about anything and everything, so it seems unlikely that the deal is fabricated.

Tencent has been associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the past and currently has major holdings in Epic, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Platinum, and more, while it is also the owner of Riot Games. There is growing concern about the amount of CCP money in recent years, despite — as Jaffe notes — Western branches of Tencent opening to create a separation between Tencent and the Chinese state.

What do you think of Jaffe's rejected deal? A big move from the former director? Let us know in the comments!

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Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Editor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and other gaming news. He writes about PS5 exclusives like The Last of Us and Horizon, PS Plus news, and his favorite games — The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, and God of War — before an evening swim.