South Korea’s top mobile game developer Netmarble Games Corp. said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy Kabam, Inc.’s Vancouver Studio which is accountable for most of Kabam’s revenues with the blockbuster game “Marvel: Contest of Champions.”

Financial terms of the deal that would be closed by March 2017 were not disclosed, but industry watchers presume the investment could cost as much as 1 trillion won. ($837.9 million).

Kabam Vancouver Studio creates, develops and publishes massively multiplayer games, including its bestselling “Marvel: Contest of Champions.” The hit game has grossed over $450 million in revenues since its launch in December 2014, has more than 90 million installs, and continues to perform on the App Store’s top grossing charts, consistently ranking within the Top 10.

The studio will launch “TRANSFORMERS: Forged to Fight worldwide” in the latter quarter of 2017. Transformers is well known for its popularity in comics, animation, movies and toys over the years to command fans across the globe.

In addition to Kabam Vancouver Studio, Netmarble will also acquire the Customer Support teams based in Kabam’s Austin office and parts of the Business Development, Marketing and User Acquisition teams from San Francisco-based Kabam.

“We are thrilled to acquire Kabam’s Vancouver studio, which has proven itself as one of the best in game development, and business competitiveness in the western market including the U.S.,” said Seungwon Lee, Chief Global Officer of Netmarble Games. “We look forward to strengthening Netmarble’s business in the western market including the U.S. through this deal.”

“The Vancouver Studio is joining a premier organization that will continue its legacy of creativity and propel it to the next generation of game development,” said Kevin Chou, CEO and Co-Founder of Kabam. “We’re extremely proud of the work we accomplished with the Vancouver Studio, and we know the team will continue their world-class work with Netmarble. No doubt they will continue to create amazing games for a global audience.”

By Oh Chan-jong

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