NCSoft's R&D Center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province (NCSoft)
NCSoft's R&D Center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province (NCSoft)

NCSoft, a major South Korean gamemaker, said Tuesday it will acquire a 70 percent stake in Germany-based game developer JustPlay GmbH for 301.6 billion won ($204.8 million) as part of its push to expand its mobile casual game business.

The deal is expected to close on April 30, after which NCSoft will hold the controlling stake in the German company, according to the company in a regulatory filing.

Headquartered in Berlin, JustPlay operates a reward-based mobile gaming platform, along with its own casual games.

NCSoft said the stock purchase is aimed at securing a key platform in the ecosystem to expand the mobile casual game business.

The Korean game publisher, best known for massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Lineage and Guild Wars, has been moving aggressively to strengthen its casual game portfolio as a new growth driver.

It set up a mobile casual center last year and acquired casual game developers, including Singapore-based mobile game publisher Indygo Group in December. (Yonhap)