“With Nautilus, we have the aspiration of building India’s best gaming studio,” said Rajan Navani, CEO at JetSynthesys and chairman of Nautilus Mobile. “Krafton’s investment in Nautilus will let us unlock the journey that we believe is just the beginning of what the gaming industry will see moving forward.”
The funding will help Nautilus deepen its penetration in more markets globally and broaden its scope to other games in addition to cricket.
“Krafton is excited to invest in Nautilus as the first game development studio in India with whom we share a common goal of creating more unique sports gaming experiences for a passionate cricketing Indian audience,” said Sean Hyunil Sohn, India head of Krafton Inc. He added that Krafton would also look to learn from Nautilus, which has expertise in cricket.
Sean said Krafton could help with its expertise through another subsidiary, RisingWings, which also makes sports games, and help in aspects like monetisation and game development. Krafton would also work with Nautilus to help it expand outside India, in the South Asian and Western markets on the publishing side.
In 2021, Krafton had invested $22.5 million in JetSynthesys’ esports venture, Nodwin Gaming. The maker of popular battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) has said that it would use a part of its IPO proceeds to invest $100 million in the Indian gaming and entertainment space. Other investments include game streaming platform Loco, storytelling platform Pratilipi and gamified dating app Frnd.
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Nautilus Mobile was set up in 2013 and acquired by JetSynthesys in October 2000. The company will continue to remain the majority shareholder in Nautilus following the investment. Nautilus is currently ranked as the top simulation-based cricket gaming franchise in the world with over 100 million downloads and a community of 10 million monthly active users.
