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| Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu speaks during an online press meeting, Monday, sharing the company's future vision. Courtesy of Krafton |
'PUBG' company aims to grow into global game publisher
By Baek Byung-yeul
Krafton, best known for the popular shooting game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," (PUBG) will actively seek out opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, taking advantage of funds to be raised by its initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for early next month.
"As we reported to the financial authorities, we are planning to use 70 percent of funds we raise through the IPO for global M&A activities," Bae Dong-keun, Krafton's chief financial officer, said Monday during an online press meeting.
The CFO added Krafton has been preparing to go for M&As since two years ago, saying the company "has secured databases of companies with great potential and interacted with those firms that have competitive intellectual property."
Krafton has been a hot spot in the IPO market here. Through the IPO, the game giant plans to raise as much as 4.3 trillion won ($3.7 billion). The company is slated to list its stocks on the country's main bourse KOSPI early next month.
Among its games, "PUBG" has garnered huge popularity from all over the world, selling over 75 million copies for PCs and gaming consoles. Regarding what kind of competitive edge Krafton has compared to other companies that will go public within this year, Krafton Chairman Chang Byung-gyu showed his confidence that investors who bet on investment opportunities in the global game industry will reap rewards.
"I think it is an investment that can directly access the rapidly growing global game market. If you think about how many ways there are to invest in the global game industry, I think you will look at us again," the chairman said.
Though the company has announced its IPO plan with an aim to develop the capability for large-scale game development, many investors have questioned Krafton's future profitability, based on the fact that "PUBG" is the company's main title that can generate profit as well as the company's high dependence on the Chinese market.
In response, Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han said the company is preparing for development of a new game that is based on the Korean fantasy novel "The Bird That Drinks Tears."
The novel was written by Lee Yeong-do, who led the country's fantasy and science fiction boom in the late 1990s with his novels such as "Dragon Raja" and "Future Walker." Lee serialized "The Bird That Drinks Tears" via online communication platform Hitel in 2002.
"As seen in The Lord of the Rings, which has made it into various types of media platforms, The Bird That Drinks Tears will also expand in various ways such as games and media," Kim said. He added the company is working on a graphic novel to get closer to overseas readers who are not familiar with the Korean fantasy novel.
Krafton will also utilize the remaining 30 percent of the raised funds to invest in new markets such as India, the Middle East and North Africa. The company especially expects India will grow into one of its core cash-cow markets, as the number of gamers there who have played the mobile version of "PUBG" has surpassed 340 million since its launch in early July.
