Krafton Acquires Controlling Stake in Nautilus Mobile

Krafton, the South Korean gaming giant behind popular titles such as PUBG: Battlegrounds and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), has acquired a majority stake in Indian gaming studio Nautilus Mobile for $14 million in an all-cash deal.

Acquisition Details

On Friday, Krafton confirmed to TechCrunch that it has acquired a stake of over 75% in Nautilus, the gaming studio behind the popular Real Cricket franchise. The Pune-based studio will continue to operate independently after the deal, with all 45 employees remaining on Nautilus’s payroll. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month.

Nautilus Mobile’s Background

Founded in 2013, Nautilus has garnered millions of downloads for its Real Cricket franchise, which currently includes five titles, including Real Cricket 24 and Real Cricket Premier League.

Krafton’s Plans for Nautilus

Krafton aims to strengthen! Nautilus’s core competence in mobile cricket games by refining its existing titles in the short term and exploring new genres in the long term, according to Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO at Krafton India. "Our development capability in Nautilus will help Krafton double down on its India gaming strategy, and together, we can probably build more games, more genres, both for the Indian market and global market going forward," said Nautilus CEO Anuj Mankar.

Expansion Plans

The company plans to expand Nautilus’ presence to other geographies over time. India’s mobile gaming market is growing steadily, driven by a large base of young smartphone users. Mobile games dominate the country’s overall gaming industry by spending, accounting for 77.9% of total revenue, per market intelligence firm Niko Partners.

Krafton’s Growth in India

Krafton, which saw 119.3% year-over-year growth in its net profit last year to roughly $889 million (KRW 1.3 trillion), sees India as a promising and key market to continue its success. The company has other titles, including Bullet Echo India, Road To Valor, and CookieRun, but they have not yet repeated the success story of the battle royale game, a localized version of PUBG.

Deal Rationale

The deal could help Krafton move beyond BGMI and explore new avenues of success, including cricket and other sports games, to attract new gamers.

Previous Investments

In 2020, Indian digital entertainment and technology company JetSynthesys acquired a 100% stake in Nautilus Mobile. That was followed by Krafton’s <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/funding/krafton-invests–