KraftThe gigantie of Zuid -Korea, known for titles, including PUBG: Battlegrounds And Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI)has acquired a controlling interest in the 12-year-old Indian Gaming Studio Nautilus Mobile For $ 14 million in an all-cash deal.
On Friday, the South Korean gaming company confirmed to Techcrunch that it has acquired a “north of 75% interest” in Nautilus, the gaming studio that is popular because of its cricket-enthusiastic focused real cricket franchise.
The PUNE -based studio will continue to work independently after the deal, which is expected to be closed by the end of the month, whereby all his 45 employees remain on the Nautilus payroll, Krafton told Techcrunch.
Nautilus was founded in 2013 and has collected millions of downloads for his real cricket franchise, which currently has five titles, including Real Cricket 24 and Real Cricket Premier League.
Krafton wants to reinforce the “core competence” of Nautilus in mobile cricket games-where the demand in cricket-loving India-by refining its existing titles in the short term and exploring new genres in the long term, said Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India, in an interview in an interview.
“Our development capacity in Nautilus will help Krafton to double his India gaming strategy, and together we can probably build more games, more genres, both for the Indian market and for the worldwide market in the future,” Nautilus CEO Anuj Mankar told Techcrunch.
The company plans to expand the presence of Nautilus to other regions over time.
The mobile gaming market of India is growing steadily, powered by a large base of young smartphone users. Mobile games dominate the overall gaming industry of the country by publishing, accounting for 77.9% of the total turnoverPer market information company Niko Partners. The company also estimates that the mobile gaming income of the country will grow from $ 640 million in 2023 to $ 1.1 billion by 2028.
Krafton, who saw 119.3% growth on an annual basis In his net profit last year to around $ 889 million (WFD 1.3 trillion), India sees as a promising and important market to continue its success. The majority of the growth from India, however, has so far come from his flag ship title for the local public, BattleGounds Mobile India (BGMI), who achieved the highest sales ever last year and Outrophy 200 million downloads.
The company has other titles, including Bullet Echo India, Road to Valor and Cookierun. However, they have not yet helped to repeat the success story of the Battle Royale game, a localized version of PUBG.
The deal can help Krafton go beyond BGMI and new ways of success, including Cricket and other sports games, to explore new gamers.
In 2020, Indian Digital Entertainment and Technology Company Jetsynthesys an interest of 100% acquired In Nautilus Mobile. That was followed by Krafton Strategic investments of $ 5.4 million in 2022.
Sohn told Techcrunch that although the potential of Nautilus was the reason for the initial investment, Krafton found his role as a stakeholder of minorities that was restrictive in terms of supporting the content development of the studio. The acquisition of a controlling interest, he said, would make a deeper cooperation and greater involvement in nuclear development efforts possible in Nautilus.
“We are convinced that cricket games have a lot of potential. And we want to collaborate with Nautilus to make the best possible effort to really realize the potential of this market, not only in India, but in other cricket-playing countries and other countries that are becoming more active in Cricket,” said Nihanshon, Bhatcrunate, Terteldus, Te Tertelde, Tebhatcunate, Tebhatcunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatcunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatscrunate, Tebhatcunate, Tebhatscrunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatscrunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tebhatcrunate, Tetrotcute, Tetrotcute, Tetrtcharate, Tektcrunate, Tektcrunate
JetSynthesys remains a “significant minority” investor in Nautilus Mobile and will continue to work with the studio in areas, including eSports. The company has already worked with the studio to help collaborate its real cricket game with cricket teams, including those associated with the Indian Premier LeagueThe world’s most lucrative cricket tournament in India.
“We will want to look at, of course, increased income, increased user base, improved retention, all the usual things and hopefully new deals,” Bhat said about how Krafton would measure the success of the deal after completion.
So far, Krafton has invested more than $ 200 million in India, excluding the Nautilus Mobile.
Krafton’s 20% investments in India have been in gaming and gaming adjacent companies, although the company has also invested in Indian startups, including the Cashfree payment platform, AudioPlatform Kuku FM and Influencer Marketing platform one impression. It also supported funds, including gaming-oriented Lumikai and the first India fund of Imminvestment.
“We look at the possibility of acquisitions, moderate investments and even business cooperation with remarkable players in the country,” said Sohn.
Nautilus will become a member of the 14 other Gamestudios Krafton is active in markets around the world.