Report: Nexon In Talks To Purchase Freestyle MMO Developer

Seoul-headquartered MapleStory publisher Nexon is reportedly in talks to buy a majority stake of South Korean MMORPG developer JCE, best known for creating the Freestyle sports games. Nexon is currently in negotiations with JCE's largest shareholders, and would acquire a 35.44 percent stake of the company if they can hammer out an agreement. It would need to work a deal with other shareholders to make JCE a full subsidiary, according to Korean industry news site This Is Game. Founded in 1994, JCE is based in Seongnam, and also has offices in China and Japan. The online game developers has created a number of MMO titles that have relesed around the world, including Warbible and Redmoon. It's best known for producing the Freestyle series of sports titles. Nexon has made several similar purchases in recent years, buying up Korean free-to-play online game companies like Neople (Dungeon & Fighter/Dungeon Fighter Online), Ndoors (Atlantica Online), and GameHi (Dekaron). Most recently, it invested in Spnish virtual world developer BoomBang.