DeNa acquires 20% stake in Rage of Bahamut dev

Mobile gaming giant DeNa has acquired a 20 per cent stake in Rage of Bahamut developer Cygames for £60 million.

The deal, in which DeNa will purchase a total of 500 shares through Cygames’ majority owner CyberAgent, is expected to be completed just after Christmas on December 28th.

The acquisition will mean increased collaboration between the two companies, with plans to develop new games to release on mobile social gaming platform Mobage.

Social card battling game Rage of Bahamut has proved a huge success for Cygames since its release in February earlier this year, garnering more than three million users outside of Japan and reaching the number one spots on Google Play and the Apple App Store in the US.

The move follows a record financial quarter for DeNa, which reported revenue of £392 million and a rise in operating profits by 38 per cent to £160m.

The company’s moba-coin virtual currency on Mobage also brought in £438m from its domestic network in Japan.

“In our second quarter we continued to see steady growth internationally, as well as in Japan,” said DeNa CEO Isao Moriyasu.

“In order to build the world’s top social games platform, we must stay focused on expanding our audience and delighting our customers with exciting games that will keep them engaged.”