KraftonSouth Korea’s game giant known for titles including PUBG: BATTLELOOUNDS and BattleGrounds Mobile India (BGMI)gained a controlling interest in the 12-year-old Indian Gaming Studio Nautilus Mobile for $ 14 million in an all cash agreement.

The South Korean game business on Friday confirmed to TechCrunch that it had acquired a “North or 75% stake” in Nautilus, the game studio that is popular for its cricket enthusiast-focused real cricket franchise.

The Pune-based studio will continue to work independently after the agreement, which is expected to conclude by the end of the month, with all its 45 employees remaining on Nautilus’ payroll, Krafton told Techcrunch.

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

Krafton intends to reinforce Nautilus’s “core power” in mobile cricket games-where demand is high in cricket-loving India by refining its existing titles and exploring new genres in the long run, Krafton India CEO Sean Hyunil Sohn said.

“Our developmental capacity in Nautilus will help Krafton double the Indian game strategy, and together we can probably build more games, more genres, both for the Indian market and the world market in the future,” Nautilus CEO Anuj Mankar told TechCrunch.

The company plans to expand Nautilus’s presence to other geographical areas over time.

India’s mobile game market is growing gradually, powered by large base young smartphone users. Mobile games dominate the country’s overall game industry by spending expenses 77.9% of total incomeby market intelligence firm Niko Partners. The firm also estimates that the country’s mobile game revenue from $ 640 million in 2023 to $ 1.1 billion will grow by 2028.

Krafton, who has seen 119.3% year-to-year growth In its net profit last year, up to about $ 889 million (KRW 1.3 trillion) regards India as a promising and key market to continue its success. However, most of the growth from India has so far come from its flagship title for the local audience, BattleGrounds Mobile India (BGMI), which achieved its highest sales last year and 200 million downloads exceeded.

The company has other titles, including Bullet Echo India, Road to Valor, and Cookierun. However, they have not yet helped to repeat the success story of the Battle Royale game, a localized version of PUBG.

The agreement can help Krafton move beyond BGMI and explore new possibilities of success, including cricket and other sports games, to attract new players.

In 2020, the Indian Digital Entertainment and Technology business jetynthesys has acquired a 100% stake In Nautilus Mobile. This was followed by Krafton’s Strategic investment of $ 5.4 million in 2022.

Sohn told TechCrunch that although Nautilus’s potential was the reason for the initial investment, Krafton found its role as a minority stake limited to supporting the studio’s content development. If he gets a controlling interest, he said, he would make deeper cooperation and greater involvement in nuclear development efforts with Nautilus.

“We strongly believe that cricket games have a lot of potential. And we want to work with Nautilus to make the best effort possible to realize the potential of this market, not just in India, but in other cricket countries and other countries, which is becoming more active in cricket,” Nihansh Bhat, Corporate Lead Development in Krafton India said.

Jetynthesys will remain a “significant minority” investor in Nautilus Mobile and will continue to work with the studio in areas, including esports. The company has already worked with the studio to help its real cricket play with cricket teams including those associated with the Indian Premier LeagueThe world’s most profitable cricket tournament in India.

“Over a long period of time, we want to look at increased income, increased user base, improved retention, all the usual things and hopefully new offers,” Bhat said about how Krafton would measure the success of the agreement.

Until now, Krafton has invested more than $ 200 million in India, excluding the Nautilus phone.

Krafton’s 20% investments in India were in game and game-adjacent businesses, although the company also invested in Indian startups, including the payment platform cashfree, the sound platform kuku FM, and the marketing platform for influencers. It also supported funds, including play -off Lumikai and Imm Investment’s first Indian fund.

“We are looking at the opportunity for acquisitions, moderate investments and even business cooperation with significant players in the country,” Sohn said.

Nautilus will join the 14 other game studios Krafton work in markets around the world.