Joymax Buys Lost Saga Developer IO Entertainment

A month after merging with WeMade Entertainment, online game developer and publisher Joymax (Silkroad Online) has acquired 100 percent of the shares of Korean outfit IO Entertainment. Founded in 2001, IO Entertainment is best known for creating free-to-play MMORPGs such as Lost Saga, which debuted in 2009 and is currently available in Korea, North America, and Taiwan -- launches in Indonesia, Thailand, Europe, and Japan are forthcoming. Joymax, also headquartered in Korea, expects "significant growth" in its revenues and game communities in 2011 with this purchase. It notes that IO Entertainment's titles are "globally profitable", and that Lost Saga grew its sales and concurrent users by 200 percent and 150 percent, respectively, in the past year. The acquisition comes just a few weeks after Joymax revealed a merger with Seoul-based WeMade Entertainment, developer and operator of The Legend of Mir series. The two firms hoped their union would expand access to their portfolio of online games to even more markets around the world. "Joymax is blazing new trails, with the recent merger with WeMade Entertainment, the recent partnership with the world's top FPS developer, Dragonfly, and now the acquisition of one of the most talented action-game development studios, we have a very bright future ahead for our global company and our community of players," says Joymax CEO Nam Cheol Kim.