SoftBank fronts $250m for mobile dev GungHo

Japanese telecommunications firm SoftBank has forked out $265 million to purchase a majority stake in mobile developer and publisher GungHo.

The deal will go through on April 1st, raising the company’s stake in the Puzzle & Dragons developer by just 20 per cent to 58.5 per cent, a majority holding.

As part of the investment, SoftBank will also receive 73,400 shares from Asian Groove at $3,600 each.

GungHo has positioned itself as one of the world’s leading mobile gaming companies in recent years, with free-to-play puzzle and RPG hybrid title Puzzle & Dragons said to be making the company $2 million a day on iOS and Android.

It is believed most of the game’s success is derived from the Japanese market, having dominated the charts in Japan on both the App Store and Google Play.

Figures for Puzzle & Dragons were estimated from GungHo’s own financial report last month which stated the company had made $92 million in sales during January 2013, up more than 1,000 per cent year-on-year.

Total sales throughout 2012 grew 169 per cent to $280 million year-on-year, with profits also rising by an impressive 690 per cent to almost $100 million.