Beijing, Dec 18 (IANS): Chinese Internet giant Tencent announced that it has acquired Slamfire, the parent company of Back 4 Blood developer Turtle Rock Studios.

Turtle Rock will become part of Tencent, while retaining its independent operations out of Lake Forest in California, and its existing team will continue to run all studio operations, led by co-founders Phil Robb and Chris Ashton.

"We are all looking forward to joining the Tencent family of studios," said Steve Goldstein, president and general manager of Turtle Rock Studios.

"Tencent's outstanding partners, global reach, deep knowledge of gaming and unprecedented support will help us create the kind of ambitious games we dream of while allowing us to retain our autonomy and independent spirit," Goldstein added.

The acquisition will have no effect on Back 4 Blood, Turtle Rock's hit multiplayer action game, which is published by Warner Bros.

"We are huge fans of Turtle Rock's games, especially their amazing approach to creating co-operative online games," Eddie Chan, chief strategy officer of Tencent Games Global, said .

"We can't wait to see what comes next, and we're excited to be part of their future," Chan added.