Krafton, the South Korean gaming giant behind PUBG: Battlegrounds and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), has acquired a controlling stake in Indian gaming studio Nautilus Mobile for $14 million.
According to TechCrunch, Krafton has purchased over 75% of Nautilus Mobile in an all-cash deal. Despite the acquisition, the Pune-based studio, known for its popular Real Cricket franchise, will continue to operate independently with its 45 employees remaining on board. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month.
Founded in 2013, Nautilus Mobile has developed five cricket titles, including Real Cricket 24 and Real Cricket Premier League. With the growing demand for cricket games in India, Krafton aims to enhance Nautilus’s expertise in this segment.
In the short term, the company will focus on refining existing titles, while in the long run, it plans to expand into new gaming genres.
“Our development capability in Nautilus will help Krafton double down on its India gaming strategy,”said Nautilus CEO Anuj Mankar. “Together, we can probably build more games, more genres, both for the Indian market and global market going forward.”
India’s mobile gaming industry is rapidly expanding, fueled by an increasing number of young smartphone users. According to Niko Partners, mobile gaming contributes 77.9% of India’s total gaming revenue, with the market expected to grow from $640 million in 2023 to $1.1 billion by 2028.
Krafton has already seen tremendous success in India, with BGMI surpassing 200 million downloads. The company has also launched other titles, including Bullet Echo India, Road To Valor, and CookieRun.
With this acquisition, Krafton is looking to expand beyond battle royale games and explore new opportunities in cricket and sports gaming.
“We strongly believe that cricket games have a lot of potential,” said Nihansh Bhat, Corporate Lead Development at Krafton India. “We want to work with Nautilus to make the best effort possible to really realize the potential of this market.”
Krafton initially invested $5.4 million in Nautilus in 2022 but found its role as a minority stakeholder limiting.
“While Nautilus’s potential was the reason for our initial investment, we found our role as a minority stakeholder limiting,” said Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO of Krafton India.
Krafton has invested over $200 million in India, excluding this latest acquisition. Nearly 20% of these investments have been in gaming and gaming-adjacent companies.
The company has also backed Indian startups such as Cashfree (payments platform), Kuku FM (audio platform), and One Impression (influencer marketing platform). Additionally, it has invested in gaming-focused funds, including Lumikai and IMM Investment’s first India fund.
“We are looking at the opportunity for acquisitions, moderate investments, and even business collaboration with notable players in the country,” Sohn added.
Before this deal, JetSynthesys, an Indian digital entertainment company, owned 100% of Nautilus Mobile after acquiring it in 2020. While Krafton now holds a majority stake, JetSynthesys will remain a “significant minority” investor and continue collaborating on esports initiatives.
Nautilus has previously partnered with Indian Premier League (IPL) teams for its Real Cricket franchise, and Krafton is expected to leverage these partnerships to further boost engagement.
“We will, over a long period of time, want to look at increased revenue, increased user base, improved retention, all the usual things, and hopefully new deals as well,” said Bhat.
With this acquisition, Nautilus Mobile will join 14 other game studios operated by Krafton worldwide, strengthening the company’s foothold in the Indian gaming industry and further diversifying its gaming portfolio.
Admin