이 기사는 2021년 11월 03일 07시52분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

A valuation of Lionheart Studio, South Korean game developer behind the blockbuster mobile game “Odin: Valhalla Rising,” has increased by more than 25 times in just three years.

Kakao Games, the video game publishing unit of tech giant Kakao, said on Monday that it agreed to buy a 30.37% stake, or 225,260 shares, in Lionheart Studio through its European subsidiary. Kakao Games will become the largest shareholder of Lionheart Studio, with a total stake of nearly 52% once the deal closes.

The deal has valued Lionheart Studio at 1.5 trillion won ($1.27 billion), up more than 25 times compared to 60 billion won when the game developer raised 5 billion won from Kakao Games for the first time in August 2018.

Two years after the first fundraising, Lionheart Studio received an additional 13.8 billion won from Kakao Games in the first half of 2020 in a deal which valued the company at 100 billion won.

The sharp rise in the valuation is attributable to the popularity of the blockbuster mobile game “Odin: Valhalla Rising.” Odin topped Apple’s App Store on the first day of its launch and topped Google Play on the fourth day, beating NCSoft’s Lineage M and Lineage 2M.

Kakao Games will make a 450 billion won advance payment, and the final acquisition price will be decided based on Lionheart Studio’s performance from July 1 to June 30, 2022. Kakao Games will make an additional payment if Lionheart Studio’s performance exceeds the target the two sides have agreed on.

The agreement suggests that both the seller and the buyer assume Odin’s performance to exceed their expectations given that the title is set to be launched in Taiwan and Europe. (Reporting by Sang-woo Seong)