DeNA Announces JV with NetDragon

DeNA to establish $6M joint venture with HK-based NetDragon to localize and dist. games for Mobage in China: http://bit.ly/yyJpT1

NetDragon and DeNA to Establish Joint Venture

NetDragon Websoft Inc., a leading online game developer and mobile internet platform operator in China, and DeNA Co., Ltd., Japan’s leading social gaming platform operator, have announced today that NetDragon and DeNA will establish a joint venture to develop and operate mobile social games for the Chinese market. The new company is scheduled to be formally established in the first quarter of 2012, with paid-in capital of 6 million U.S. dollars and an initial staff of approximately 30.

The joint venture company will localize non-Chinese social games, including a roster of DeNA Group’s popular in-house and third party titles, for the growing smartphone market in China. The new company will then operate the localized games on Mobage China, the social mobile gaming platform operated by DeNA Group in China. The games will be available via NetDragon’s app distribution platforms, which are widely used by smartphone users in China.

The joint venture will allow DeNA to leverage NetDragon Group’s capability in developing and operating Chinese games, its proven business management experience in China, as well as NetDragon’s highly popular mobile app store. NetDragon will benefit from DeNA’s extensive expertise in mobile social games. NetDragon will also enrich its smartphone marketplace with games from Japan and the U.S.

NetDragon and DeNA announced their initial strategic cooperation in April 2011, and Mobage China app has since been provided on NetDragon’s store. NetDragon’s smartphone marketplace is particularly popular, with more than 40 million users. Long-term, the joint venture also plans to develop original in-house titles, including massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), for Mobage users around the world.