Mobile Social Gaming Network GREE Acquires Paprika Lab

On June 7 it was announced that global mobile social gaming network GREE had acquired South Korean game company Paprika Lab.

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Paprika Lab’s games are aimed at the global market and have recorded upwards of 1.5 million monthly active users with their game HeroCity which is available on Facebook, Cyworld and other social platforms.

GREE and Paprika Lab have previously worked together on a mobile social game. By acquiring Paprika Lab, GREE hopes to use the company’s skilled developers and its own experiences with Japan’s mobile social games to create a successful and global mobile social game platform service.

GREE showcased its social game developing skills in May when “GREE Platoform” was released, offering many different and upcoming applications.

[#M_ Click here to read more about Paprika Lab. | Hide |Paprika Lab is a South Korean gaming startup which has developed several mobile and social games over the past four years. The firm has targeted a global market right from the beginning and are equipped with a strong developing team made up of staff who have worked at major game companies in Korea such as NCsoft, Nexon, Neowiz and NHN.

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Although Paprika Lab is a game developer, it is not how they originally started out. The company’s first service ‘FaceWorthy’ was launched in December 2007 and is a website which is described as a “social discovery network” for users to showcase themselves. Users are able to upload photos and other users can vote for them. The site is also available in Portuguese and is popular in Brazil.

The company then turned their focus to developing games for mobile platforms and started developing games for iOS devices in 2009. The company teamed up with NeoLAB, another startup which has offices in both Korea and Japan. The two companies decided to work together to build a quiz game for smartphones aimed at the Japanese market. NeoLAB provided the content for the quiz and Paprika Lab developed the app. Though the app does not have an English name, it roughly translates to “Love-Attracting Wisdom 2000” and reached number six out of all categories on the Japanese App Store.

Another mobile app launched earlier the same year was HenHouse: Count Attack, a simple but difficult game to test one’s reflexes by touching the eggs in numerical order as they appear, in as little time as possible. Players can share their times with others around the world.

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HenHouse: Count Attack

As users all over the global continued to embrace social media, Paprika Lab moved into the social game arena. Their most popular title ‘Hero City‘ has a stunning, 3 million users all over the world on multiple social networks including Facebook, Korea’s Cyworld and Russia’s Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte. In the game players build their own city while taking charge of a superhero and sending him on missions to gain experience. Users can also interact with each other to form alliances and exchange gifts and ‘energy’. Another game which the company released on Facebook named ‘Pirate Legacy‘ is a turn-based RPG where players control a pirate ship and use the help of their friends to advance in the game.

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Hero City has millions of players all over the world.

Paprika Lab is currently developing new games using resources from their experience with mobile and social platforms. The company is keen to use the skills of its knowledgeable team to work together with other developers in new and exciting ways.

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