Report: Nexon and NCSoft in $900m Valve buyout talks

Asian online gaming giants Nexon and NCSoft are in talks to acquire Valve, according to a report.

Korean publication Joonang News, as reported by Venturebeat, has alleged that the two major publishers have valued Valve at more than $893m.

The companies reportedly met together in Hawaii on September 26th to discuss a potential merger.

Nexon has declined to comment on the matter.

Valve has previously allegedly been the subject of acquisition talks with EA, with the publishing giant valuing the company at upwards of $1billion.

Both valuations however appear to fall short of Valve’s true value. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has estimated that the studio could be worth as much as $2.5bn, nearly three times as much as the offers apparently on the table from Nexon and NCSoft.

Valve CEO Gabe Newell has also previously said that there was more chance the studio would “disintegrate” than be sold.

“It’s way more likely we would head in that direction than say, ‘Let’s find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate,’” he said.

This is not the first time that Nexon has been linked with a move into the US, with the online gaming company linked with a takeover of EA earlier this year.

Nexon is one of Asia’s biggest companies in the games industry, raising $1.2 billion in the biggest Japanese IPO of last year.