Nexon acquires rights for Elsword Mobile game in Japan from China’s Kunlun

Nexon said that it has acquired publishing rights for Kunlun’s Elsword Mobile game in Japan.

Tokyo-based Nexon said it will announce the launch date in the Japanese market later. The deal shows how a game created in China has potential in Japan, rather than the other way around. Japan is one of the most competitive mobile game markets in the world.

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Elsword Mobile is a side-scrolling action role-playing game, based on the original PC online game Elsword. The game has more than 400 characters, a skill reinforcement system, real-time parties, player-versus-player, and guild co-op modes.

“We are pleased to collaborate with Kunlun’s development team, which has developed successful titles for users across the globe,” said Kihan Kim, Nexon’s mobile business division manager, in a statement. “Elsword is a popular title in Japan, and we hope this mobile title to contribute to the further expansion of Nexon’s mobile game pipeline. We will continue to deliver engaging games to users that would meet their expectations.”

Kunlun launched Elsword Mobile in China in January 2016, and it went global in May 2016. Kunlun published the game in South Korea in January 2017.

Fang Chen, CEO of Kunlun, said in a statement, “We are looking forward to working with Nexon to deliver our flagship mobile game, Elsword Mobile, to Japanese users. We continue to develop the game by leveraging the strengths of the original game to deliver content which will engage our fans.”

Kunlun is based in Beijing and was founded in 2008.