Gamevil Reaches 50M Mobile Game Downloads

Seoul-based developer and publisher Gamevil has surpassed 50 million downloads for its mobile games, which includes popular series like Zenonia, NOM, Baseball Superstars, Soccer Superstars, and Air Penguin. Founded in 2000 (with a U.S. branch set up in California in 2006), the company has released some 30 smartphone games on both Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms, and has put out around 30 titles in South Korea's feature phone market, too. The South Korean firm recently reported significant overall revenue growth in its second fiscal quarter, rising 34 percent to ₩9.8 billion (nearly $9.1 million) compared to the same period in the previous year -- 62 percent of that was from its expanding smartphone business. Gamevil hopes to capitalize on the popularity of its existing franchises by releasing two more sequels, Zenonia 4 and Baseball Superstars 2012, in the near future, according to a report from Korean industry news site This Is Game. Several weeks ago, it also announced plans to invest $10 million in various partnerships with external developers to "strengthen its global reach and lineup of smartphone game titles." Gamevil's acquisition of the Cartoon Wars series was one of those deals.