Krafton invests $89 million in short form K-drama firm Spoon Labs
PUBG firm Krafton has invested KRW 120 billion ($89.3 million) in streaming company Spoon Labs.
This is its largest investment to date in a non-gaming area, the firm noted.
Seoul-based Spoon Labs owns an audio platform called Spoon, and recently launched a service dedicated to short-form videos called Vigloo, in particular focusing on K-drama.
Krafton's decision to invest was driven "by the growth potential of the short-form video drama market," the company said, as well as the potential to acquire new IP. The short-form video drama market represents roughly $5 billion in China, the announcement further said, with the US and Japan also having strong markets for it.
Krafton CEO CH Kim commented: "Spoon Labs has already proven its strong overseas business capabilities through Spoon over the past few years. We look forward to creating entertainment that people worldwide can enjoy together and establishing a robust industry ecosystem within the new short-form drama platform business."
CEO of Spoon Labs Hyukjae Choi added: "We have been strengthening our position as a global content platform company by expanding our business from audio to video. We plan to enter the US and Japanese markets soon, and together with Krafton, we will establish a new international standard in the short-form drama sector."
This follows a couple of other investments from Krafton, having acquired Tango Gameworks and the Hi-Fi Rush IP from Xbox last month, and having taken a minority stake in Polish developer Far From Home earlier this year.
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