Dawn Chmielewski & Sam Nussey

TOKYO/LOS ANGELES – The Japanese developer of the oldest online role-playing game, which has nearly a billion users worldwide, is putting the effort into global expansion.

Nexon Co Ltd – a company little-known outside Asia – has the 10th largest market capitalization of video games companies. The $22 Billion valuation makes it more valuable than Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ) Interactive. This is the company that created Roblox and Grand Theft Auto.

It completed last year the purchase of Stockholm’s Embark Studios. The founder of “Battlefield”, the popular franchise, was its founder. In 2022, it spent $400 million to purchase a minority share in AGBO. AGBO is an independent studio that was established by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. They were the creative team behind Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” and “Avengers: Infinity War.”

Owen Mahoney from Nexon, chief executive of the company, stated to Reuters that “the idea overall with it is to combine [what we] are really good at – making a Virtual World last and grow forever –with what they’re really great at,” he said.

Nexon and AGBO are working together to find ways for Nexon to expand its games franchises on television or film, as well as to develop virtual worlds or other video games inspired from AGBO’s films.

Jason Bergsman, CEO of AGBO, stated that “our vision aligns with Nexon’s and recognizes audiences have come to expect genuine immersion in the IPs they care about.”

Both companies have begun talks about adapting Nexon franchises like “MapleStory”, “Dungeon and Fighter,” and other popular ones, such as “MapleStory” and “Dungeon and Fighter.” These two brands are rich in lore and have passionate fans. According to one person with direct knowledge, these talks are in their early stages.

The two are also talking about a virtual or game world inspired from “Battle of the Planets”, an iconic Japanese anime program that was broadcast in the 1970s. AGBO is currently developing this feature film.

Mahoney plans to use Nexon’s expertise in running “live games”, which means updating titles as they run, to launch large budget titles with a Western sensibility such as “ARC Raiders,” a free-to-play shooter from Embark Studios.

Patrick Soderlund was the founder of Embark. He was also the head of Dice (the company that created “Battlefield”, and Electronic Arts was acquired by Electronic Arts (NASDAQ) during Mahoney’s time as the head for mergers and acquisitions.

VIRTUAL WEST PIONEER

Nexon has carefully avoided the “metaverse”, which has been engulfed tech giants Microsoft and Facebook (NASDAQ.

Mahoney explained that “nobody can explain it, and they aren’t able to define why it’s so damn great.” It’s nothing.

Nexon adopted features early in the game, including virtual currency in-game and free-to-play models.

These features were introduced in Nexon’s “KartRider” race game. This is one of its “forever franchises”.

The arcade fighting game Dungeon and Fighter, which is its most popular brand, has been a huge success. It has made more than $20 Billion since 2005 than combined profits from the Star Wars and Harry Potter films.

Nexon will be expanding its operations to include a new big challenge: generating returns on Western-style games with higher budgets.

“Nexon has not had a great track record of operating photorealistic video games for serious gamers.” Citigroup (NYSE: ) In March, analysts began coverage on the stock by writing that it was “neutral”.

Nexon wants control over the costs of creating titles, even though budgets are exceeding $100 million. It uses machine learning technology instead of workers to create animated characters.

Mahoney explained that “I don’t really pay what happens in one or two quarters.” “What matters to me is the next two years.”