$130 million for mobile studio SGN, as Korea's Netmarble steps up

Major Korean mobile studio Netmarble has invested a whopping $130 million in SGN, a U.S.-based mobile games studio known for alliterative casual puzzle titles like Juice Jam and Panda Pop.

MindJolt, a social game studio created by former MySpace CEO and founder Chris DeWolfe picked up SGN in 2011; now, SGN forms the core of the company's business, with DeWolfe serving as CEO.

Netmarble, headquartered in Seoul, had a number-one top-grossing iOS game in the Korean market earlier this year with action RPG Raven, and hopes to expand its business in the West via SGN:

"With SGN’s many years of experience in global marketing, I am confident that SGN will make a perfect partner for Netmarble to enter the Western market," said Netmarble CEO Youngsig Kwon in a statement announcing the investment.

"Through this synergistic partnership, Netmarble and SGN will collaborate and expand their publishing footprints globally," added Netmarble's overseas president Seungwon Lee.

This move comes about a year after Chinese tech giant Alibaba invested $120 million in San Francisco mobile studio Kabam, with hopes of pivoting the developer to creating games for the lucrative Chinese market.