이 기사는 2022년 01월 11일 08:08 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

Nexon has acquired a 38% stake in AGBO, a Hollywood production company founded by "Avengers: Endgame” directors Russo brothers, for $400 million, making it the latest South Korean game makers to invest in entertainment companies as they seek to find new growth drivers amid the rise of the metaverse.

A joint statement released last Thursday said Nexon would also invest up to an additional $100 million in the first half of this year if asked by AGBO.


The deal was struck as part of the game company’s ongoing initiative to invest in the entertainment industry. In June 2020, Nexon announced a plan to pour $1.5 billion into companies “that demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain strong, globally recognized intellectual property”.

For one year after the announcement, the company has spent approximately $1 billion on investing in companies like Japan’s game firms Bandai Namco Holdings, Konami Holdings and Sega Sammy Holdings, as well as US toys manufacturer Hasbro.

Those investments, however, gave industry watchers rather obscure clues as to the company’s future vision, with an official at Nexon admitting that the company made some of the investments as a financial investor rather than from a strategic point of view.

With its deal with AGBO, the game company has outlined a much clearer strategy for growing its business by investing in intellectual properties. Nexon is seeking to produce media content, such as films and TV series, from its game titles in partnership with global production companies, and also develop video games and virtual worlds based on their titles.

Nexon’s 15 billion won ($12.5 million) investment in YNC&S earlier this month is also in line with this strategy. YNC&S is a joint venture between South Korea’s YG Entertainment and Naver to build a special effects studio for the production of virtual reality and augmented reality media.

AGBO, founded and led by Joe and Anthony Russo who directed four Marvel movies including “Avengers: Endgame,” creates and produces films and series for streaming and theatrical distribution, counting Walt Disney, Netflix and NBC Universal among its partners.

Eyeing North American expansion

This is not the first time Nexon has put intellectual property at the center of its growth strategy. In the late 2000s, it partnered with Japanese production companies to make animations based on its hit game titles such as MapleStory and Crazy Arcade.

What distinguishes this time from dozen years ago is that Nexon will lead the production of media content based on its game titles in its future collaboration with AGBO.

Nexon appears to be looking for expansion in North America. The AGBO deal was led by Disney alum Nick van Dyk, who joined Nexon as chief strategy officer last July. Van Dyk leads Nexon Film & Television, the game company’s LA-based film and TV division.

In April 2019, Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju approached Disney about a sale of the company, although the deal fell through two months later. The company also invested more than 500 billion won in Hasbro, which has the master toy licenses for Disney’s Star Wars and Marvel brands, in 2020.

Industry watchers expect Nexon could announce more deals involving North America-based content companies in the coming months as it has a sizable war chest for investment, partly thanks to a huge dividend payout from its subsidiary Nexon Korea. (Reporting by Won-ji Hwang)