Sony Music Entertainment Japan has acquired a near-23% stake in Japanese games company GungHo Online Entertainment, buying the shares from existing investor SON Financial.
GungHo is a public company with a market cap of ¥139.66bn ($873m at current exchange rates). The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year.
Business alliance#
The two companies also plan a business alliance. It will involve exploring:
- joint development and joint operation of smartphone games, console games, and PC games
- promotion of collaboration initiatives for GungHo Games
- new game projects including the utilization of intellectual property of the Sony Music Entertainment (SME) Group
GungHo is best known for the mobile game Puzzle & Dragons. In 2013, the company made $446m in a single quarter, while Puzzle & Dragons alone generated $1.43bn that year. Thirteen years later, it remains one of GungHo’s key properties.
