{"id":12171,"date":"2025-03-28T02:00:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T02:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/krafton-buys-stake-in-nautilus-for-14m\/"},"modified":"2025-03-28T02:00:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T02:00:57","slug":"krafton-buys-stake-in-nautilus-for-14m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/krafton-buys-stake-in-nautilus-for-14m\/","title":{"rendered":"Krafton buys stake in Nautilus for $14M"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/p>\n<h1>Krafton Acquires Controlling Stake in Nautilus Mobile<\/h1>\n<p>Krafton, the South Korean gaming giant behind popular titles such as <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pubg.com\/en\" target=\"_blank\">PUBG: Battlegrounds<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.battlegroundsmobileindia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI)<\/a>, has acquired a majority stake in Indian gaming studio <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nautilusmobile.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nautilus Mobile<\/a> for $14 million in an all-cash deal.<\/p>\n<h2>Acquisition Details<\/h2>\n<p>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&#8217;s payroll. The deal is expected to close by the end of the month.<\/p>\n<h2>Nautilus Mobile&#8217;s Background<\/h2>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"526\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6709.jpg?w=526\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2986811\" srcset=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6709.jpg 526w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6709.jpg?resize=150,84 150w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6709.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6709.jpg?resize=430,242 430w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"wp-element-caption__text\">Real Cricket 24<\/span><span class=\"wp-block-image__credits\"><strong>Image Credits:<\/strong>Nautilus Mobile<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Krafton&#8217;s Plans for Nautilus<\/h2>\n<p>Krafton aims to strengthen! Nautilus&#8217;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. &quot;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,&quot; said Nautilus CEO Anuj Mankar.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"1280\" src=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?w=510\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2986812\" style=\"width:280px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg 960w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=113,150 113w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=225,300 225w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=768,1024 768w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=510,680 510w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=900,1200 900w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=323,430 323w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=540,720 540w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=675,900 675w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=600,800 600w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=501,668 501w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=281,375 281w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=463,617 463w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6706.jpg?resize=398,531 398w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"wp-element-caption__text\">Nautilus CEO Anuj Mankar <\/span><span class=\"wp-block-image__credits\"><strong>Image Credits:<\/strong>Nautilus<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Expansion Plans<\/h2>\n<p>The company plans to expand Nautilus&#8217; presence to other geographies over time. India&#8217;s mobile gaming market is growing steadily, driven by a large base of young smartphone users. Mobile games dominate the country&#8217;s overall gaming industry by spending, accounting for <a href=\"https:\/\/nikopartners.com\/india-games-market-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">77.9% of total revenue<\/a>, per market intelligence firm Niko Partners.<\/p>\n<h2>Krafton&#8217;s Growth in India<\/h2>\n<p>Krafton, which saw <a href=\"https:\/\/m-en.yna.co.kr\/view\/AEN20250211007800320\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">119.3% year-over-year growth<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<h2>Deal Rationale<\/h2>\n<p>The deal could help Krafton move beyond BGMI and explore new avenues of success, including cricket and other sports games, to attract new gamers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"492\" src=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?w=680\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2986810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=150,72 150w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=300,144 300w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=768,369 768w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=680,327 680w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=430,207 430w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=720,346 720w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=900,432 ! 900w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=800,384 800w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=668,321 668w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_6707.jpg?resize=708,340 708w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><span class=\"wp-element-caption__text\">Sean Hyunil Sohn, CEO, Krafton India,<\/span><span class=\"wp-block-image__credits\"><strong>Image Credits:<\/strong>Krafton<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Previous Investments<\/h2>\n<p>In 2020, Indian digital entertainment and technology company JetSynthesys <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneycontrol.com\/news\/technology\/jetsynthesys-buys-pune-based-game-development-studio-nautilus-mobile-5925831.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">acquired a 100% stake<\/a> in Nautilus Mobile. That was followed by Krafton&#8217;s &lt;a href=&quot;<a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/tech\/funding\/krafton-invests\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/tech\/funding\/krafton-invests<\/a>&#8211;<\/p>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/03\/27\/krafton-acquires-controlling-stake-in-indian-gaming-studio-nautilus-mobile-for-14m\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[3809,208,811,3810,3811,3808],"class_list":["post-12171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-bgmi","tag-india","tag-krafton","tag-krafton-india","tag-nautilus-mobile","tag-pubg"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/krafton-getty.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}