News

Nexon sells off mobile developer Gloops for one Japanese yen

Japanese studio was purchased for approximately $470 million in 2012

Date Type Companies involved Size
January 2nd, 2020 acquisition Nexon $0m
¥1m
Nexon sells off mobile developer Gloops for one Japanese yen

South Korean games publisher Nexon has sold off its mobile developer subsidiary Gloops for ¥1 (0.009 cents).

As reported by MMO Culture, Nexon has agreed to a deal with Japanese firm GRDRIVE to part with the studio after failing to make a profit on its investment ever since the purchase was made in October 2012 for ¥36.5 billion (roughly $470 million).

It's an interesting move from Nexon after the firm purchased a majority stake in new start-up Embark Studios, followed by founder Jungju Kim's decision to hang onto his controlling share following months of a potential sale for the publisher.

Ark Resona

Gloops has developed mostly casual titles across iOS and Android throughout the years, such as block stacker Tofu Tsumi and competitive card adventure Kakodama.

The studio's latest game was an anime match-three puzzler called Ark Resona, which is due to shut down on January 31st, 2020.

One year after the acquisition of Gloops, our contributing editor Jon Jordan questioned the size of the deal as well as the studio's "almost total lack of success outside of Japan".


Deputy Editor

Matthew Forde is the deputy editor at PocketGamer.biz and also a member of the Pocket Gamer Podcast. You can find him on Twitter @MattForde64 talking about stats, data and everything pop culture related - particularly superheroes.