South Korea's NCSoft pivots to casual games with two acquisitions

SEOUL, December 22 (AJP) - South Korean game developer NCSoft said on Monday it is stepping up its push into the global mobile casual game market, announcing two acquisitions to seek new growth beyond its traditional focus on massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

NCSoft, led by co-chief executive officers Kim Taek-jin and Park Byung-moo, said it will acquire global mobile casual game developer Lihuhu Games and South Korean studio Springcomes as part of a portfolio diversification strategy.

The company said it will purchase a 67 percent stake in Indigo Group, a Singapore-based firm that owns Lihuhu Games, for about 153.4 billion won ($103.9 million), making NCSoft the largest shareholder.

Lihuhu Games, headquartered in Vietnam, has released about 100 titles across genres including match-3D, number-based and “hole” puzzle games. More than 80 percent of its revenue comes from North America and Europe, NCSoft said. The developer projects revenue of about 120 billion won and operating profit of around 30 billion won this year.

Springcomes focuses on the merge-game genre and is known for its rapid development cycle, typically launching four to five new titles a year. The studio expects its revenue this year to more than double from a year earlier to about 28 billion won, NCSoft said.

To integrate its expanded casual-game portfolio, NCSoft has established the Mobile Casual Center. The company said it appointed Arnel Cheman to lead the unit and recruited additional data and user-acquisition specialists, including Anthony Pascal.

NCSoft also said it has secured a software license from European analytics firm Codebase to build a data analytics and live-operations platform.

Park said the acquisition of Lihuhu Games was significant in that it established a foundation for “visible growth” in the global mobile casual market. He added that NCSoft plans to strengthen its international competitiveness through further acquisitions of European studios and an expanded publishing business.

The company said it plans to announce a more comprehensive business strategy related to its mobile casual push early next year.

Seon Jae-kwan seon@economidaily.com