KraftonSouth Korean Giant Giant known for the titles, including PUBG: Battlegrounds AND Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMi)purchased a control package in 12-year Indian Gaming Studio Nautilus mobile for $ 14 million in the complex agreement.
On Friday, the South Korean game company confirmed Techcrunch that it purchased “north of 75% of shares” in Nautilus, a game studio popular because of franchise cricket oriented on a cricket enthusiast.
The studio from Pune will proceed to operate independently after the contract, which is to approach the end of the month, with all 45 employees remain on the Nautilus payroll, Krafton told TechCrunch.
Nauutilus, founded in 2013, won hundreds of thousands of downloads for his Real Cricket franchise, which currently has five titles, including Real Cricket 24 and Real Cricket Premier League.
Krafton is aimed at strengthening Nautilus’s “basic competences” in mobile cricket games-where the demand is high in the loving cricket India-interview, improving its existing titles and studying latest species.
“Our development ability in Nautilus will help krafton double our strategy of games in India and together we can probably build more games, more species, both on the Indian market and on the global market,” said Techcrunch, general director of Nautilus.
The company plans to expand the presence of Nautilus to other geographies over time.
The Indian mobile games market is continuously growing, driven by a large base of young smartphone users. Mobile games dominate in the general country of games in the country through expenses, settling 77.9% of total revenuesOn the market of intelligence firms Niko Partners. The company also estimates that revenues from mobile games in the country will increase from $ 640 million in 2023 to $ 1.1 billion to 2028.
Krafton he saw 119.3% increase from yr to yr In the net profit last yr to around $ 889 million (1.3 trillion BRW), it perceives India as a promising and key market to proceed success. However, most of the growth from India got here so far the flagship title of the local audience, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMi), which achieved the highest sales last yr and exceeded 200 million downloads.
The company has other titles, including Bullet Echo India, Road to Valor and Cookień. However, they have not yet helped repeat the history of the success of the Battle Royale game, the PUBG version situated.
The contract may help Krafton go beyond BGMi and discover latest success opportunities, including crickets and other sports games to draw latest players.
In 2020, Jetsynthesys an Indian company dealing with digital entertainment and technology acquired 100% of shares In Nautilus Mobile. Then Krafton’s Strategic investment in the amount of $ 5.4 million in 2022
Sohn told Techcrunch that although Nautilus’s potential was the reason behind the initial investment, Krafton recognized its role as a minority stakeholder limiting in terms of support for the development of the studio’s content. He said that gaining the participation of the controller would allow deeper cooperation and greater commitment to basic development activities with Nautilus.
“We strongly believe that cricket games have great potential. And we want to cooperate with Nautilus to put as well as possible to really realize the potential of this market, not only in India, but in other nations cricket and other countries that are becoming more and more active in crickets,” said Nihansh Bhat, corporate development in Kruckton India, said the technician.
Jetsynthesys will remain an investor of a “significant minority” in Nautilus Mobile and will proceed to cooperate with the studio in areas, including Esports. The company has already collaborated with the studio to assist partner its real cricket game with teams, including these related to the Indian Premier LeagueThe most lucrative cricket tournament in the world in India.
(*14*) Bhat said in terms of how Krafton measures the success of the contract after the end.
Until now, Krafton has invested over $ 200 million in India, excluding Nautilus cell phone.
20% of Krafton’s investment in India concerned games and games. He also supported funds, including focused on games Lumikai and the first IMM Investment India fund.
“We are looking for opportunities, moderate investments and even business cooperation with well -known players in the country,” said Sohn.
Nautilus will join 14 other game studies, Krafton, works on markets around the world.