South Korea's Neptune sets sights on India as it scales adtech, game publishing

SEOUL, January 20 (AJP) - South Korea's Neptune said on Tuesday it will expand businesses that combine advertising technology and gaming this year, centered on three new initiatives, following its acquisition by Krafton.

Neptune outlined three strategic pillars: global expansion of its adtech operations, a stronger push into hybrid-casual games and the development of a new demand-side platform, or DSP, for advertisers. India has been identified as the top priority market for its adtech business.

The company said its India strategy focuses on optimizing services for local mobile environments. It completed India-specific software development kits, or SDKs, and infrastructure capable of handling large-scale traffic in the third quarter of last year. The technology will be rolled out in phases, starting with popular mobile games in India in the first half of this year.

The company has spent about six months establishing internal collaboration models after the takeover by Krafton and is now moving into an execution phase.

In its games business, Neptune said it aims to diversify revenue by increasing investment and publishing in hybrid-casual titles that combine in-app purchases, or IAP, with in-app advertising, or IAA. It also plans to expand in-house game development to secure a steady pipeline of hit titles and user traffic.

Chief Executive Kang Yul-bin said Neptune plans to leverage traffic from its parent company to gain a foothold in India’s adtech market, which he estimated to be worth about 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion).

“By linking the expansion of hybrid-casual games with our India business rollout, we aim to take our adtech business to the next level,” Kang said.

* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.

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