Korean gaming powerhouse to invest $202 million in European mobile game platform
NCSoft said Wednesday it is investing $202 million in JustPlay, a German-based mobile game platform company, to acquire a 70 percent stake, looking to speed up its plan to expand the global mobile casual game business.
According to NCSoft, the board of directors approved the acquisition on the previous day. The Korean game company expects to complete the acquisition by the end of next month.
JustPlay, an advertisement technology-based mobile casual game developer and reward platform company, was established by former executives of global advertisement technology firm AppLovin in 2020. NCSoft said the newly acquired entity will play a key platform role of its plan to establish a global mobile casual game ecosystem.
According to NCSoft, JustPlay operates some 40 mobile casual games it has either self-developed or publishes through its own platform. Last year, it logged $172.8 million and $19.1 million in sales and operating profit, respectively, with approximately 70 percent of sales coming from North America. The company is forecast to generate $325 million and $40 million in sales and operating profit, respectively, this year.
“JustPlay is a company with an excellent growth rate and great potential, projecting to see its sales increase by 88 percent on-year this year,” said NCSoft co-CEO Park Byung-moo. “Through this acquisition, we will secure an essential platform for global mobile casual business and focus on setting up an ecosystem that can maximize synergy between mobile casual game studio subsidiaries inside and outside the country.”
After establishing a mobile casual center within the company last year, NCSoft has ramped up investments to set up a mobile casual gaming ecosystem, taking over both domestic and overseas mobile casual gaming studios such as Lihuhu in Vietnam and Springcomes in Korea.
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
