Nexon Purchases gloops, Developer of Mobage Platform

Last week, a rumor suddenly surfaced that Korean game giant Nexon was in the process of raising capital to purchase American developer Valve—a rumor that was categorically denied by Valve and Nexon both. Today, though, Joystiq reports that Nexon has purchased gloops, Inc., the Japanese mobile developer behind the DeNa-owned Mobage platform.

Nexon acquired the company for $468 million—or ¥36.5 billion, as it’s described in the press release about the purchase. The acquisition gives Nexon a strong foothold in the mobile and social game market; as Joystiq reports, gloops is behind some of the bigger Japanese social games such as Shibuya Quest, MLB Battle Game, and Odin Battle.

Here’s what Nexon’s president and CEO, Seungwoo Choi, had to say about the deal:

“This acquisition significantly accelerates Nexon’s mobile strategy, giving us immediate exposure to Japan’s large and fast growing mobile market. gloops has established itself as one of the premier mobile game developers in the world and a key player in one of our most important growth areas, with a robust portfolio of hit titles and a strong track record of driving market innovation. We look forward to leveraging gloops’ outstanding capabilities and scale to expand the Nexon game experience to users on mobile platforms worldwide.”

Also? I hate that the company’s name starts with a lowercase “g.” That makes it really annoying to me, as a writer who is writing its name. But anyway.

Back when the Nexon purchase rumor first developed, I said that I didn’t think there was too much truth to the rumor as it stood—but that there was a kernel of truth in there somewhere. The fact that only a few days later we hear about a major purchase Nexon makes sends that point home. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire—we just need to make sure we know where the heck the fire actually is.

Business Wire via Joystiq