Netmarble to pick up Marvel Contest of Champions dev Kabam Vancouver

Netmarble and Kabam have announced the impending acquisition of the Vancouver-based Kabam studio responsible for the high-grossing mobile game Marvel Contest of Champions. 

The deal is expected to close early next year, and as such neither party has disclosed exactly how much the Korean company is spending to pick up Kabam’s Vancouver branch. However, a report earlier this year teased an $800 million bid on Kabam from an unnamed party.

Kabam’s Vancouver studio is behind the free-to-play mobile game Marvel Contest of Champions, which was earning the company upwards of $25 million monthly as of August 2016. The studio’s next game, Transformers: Forged to Fight, is due to release during the second quarter of 2017.

“We are thrilled to acquire Kabam’s Vancouver studio, which has proven itself as one of the best in game development, and business competitiveness in the western market inducing the U.S.,” said Netmarble Chief Global Officer Seungwon Lee. “We look forward to strengthening Netmarble’s business in the western market including the U.S. through this deal.”

Along with the Vancouver studio itself, Netmarble will also pick up the customer support teams from Kabam’s Austin operation and some of the business development, marketing, and user acquisition teams from its San Francisco office.