Gamevil has announced its intention to acquire Korean publisher and developer Com2us. This deal has already been dubbed the most important step towards the consolidation of the region.
Gamevil representatives reported that the company received shares and control over Com2us on October 3.
“This agreement is of great importance,” they explained. “Both companies are known as the oldest and the world’s leading companies in the mobile gaming industry, located in Korea.”
Although the deal came as a complete surprise, Gamevil’s expansion intentions are well known. In June, the company announced the allocation of $130 million for “aggressive acquisitions”, investments and transactions.
Then it became known about a whole series of agreements with third-party publishers and the investment of the Korean start-up Relax Games.
For Com2us, in turn, the merger was the end of a turbulent 2013. After reporting sales growth of 121% in the first quarter, the second quarter marked an 8% decline compared to the level that was achieved in 2012. Explaining the failures of the second quarter, Com2us representatives attributed the decline in sales volumes to the fact that the new games did not gain the expected popularity.
The main problem for both veterans of the Korean market was the competition with the KakaoTalk mobile messenger. Although the developer of the latter is not a publisher in the strict sense of the word, KakaoTalk’s revenue is expected to grow continuously, because apparently, the Korean mobile games market is becoming more and more casual.
The merger of Gamevil and Com2us will unite the user bases of both companies and open up great opportunities for Gamevil for future growth outside of Korea.
According to Gamevil, the two sides will “cooperate on the portfolio development strategy” as they intend to “increase their competitiveness in the global market“.
Source: www.pocketgamer.biz