NCSOFT said on the 11th that it decided to acquire JustPlay, a European mobile game platform corporations, to expand its global mobile casual game business.
The acquisition is seen as part of a strategy to strengthen the mobile casual business that NCSOFT has identified as a new growth engine, moving away from its existing business structure centered on massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).
At a board meeting on the 10th, NCSOFT resolved to invest $202 million (about 300 billion won) to secure 70% equity in Germany-based JustPlay. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed at the end of April.
JustPlay, headquartered in Berlin, is an advertising-technology-based mobile casual game development and reward platform corporations founded in 2020 by executives from the global ad tech corporations "AppLovin." Through its own platform, JustPlay offers more than 40 mobile casual games that it has developed in-house or published.
As of last year, it posted annual revenue of $172.8 million (about 248 billion won) and operating profit of $19.1 million (about 27.4 billion won). It secured market competitiveness by growing rapidly in North America and Europe, with 70% of total revenue generated in North America.
This year's annual revenue is expected to reach $325 million, with operating profit of $40 million, continuing its growth trend.
JustPlay is expected to serve as the core platform in NCSOFT's strategy to build a global mobile casual ecosystem.
Park Byung-mu, NCSOFT co-CEO, said, "JustPlay is a corporations with outstanding growth and potential, with revenue expected to jump 88% this year from a year earlier," adding, "Through this acquisition, we will secure a core platform for the global mobile casual business and focus on building an ecosystem that maximizes synergies with our domestic and overseas mobile casual studio subsidiaries."
Earlier, NCSOFT pushed for business diversification and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with its own intellectual property (IP) including existing MMORPGs, new genres such as shooting games and subculture, and mobile casual games as the three growth pillars.
As part of that effort, in August last year it established a "mobile casual center" dedicated to the mobile casual business and recruited Anel Ceman—who helped several mobile game unicorns grow, including Tripledot Studios and Outfit7—as head of the center.
In addition, in December last year, it invested $103.85 million (about 153.4 billion won) in Indygo Group, the Singapore parent corporations of Vietnam casual game specialist "Lihuhu," securing 67% equity. It also acquired the domestic mobile casual studio Springcomes.