Announcing the Joint Development & Operation of a Hybrid-Casual Game with Pocket Pair Inc.

KLab Inc. :

KLab Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President & CEO: Hidekatsu Morita, hereinafter referred to as "KLab") will be working together with Pocket Pair Inc. (Office: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, CEO: Takuro Mizobe, hereinafter referred to as "Pocket Pair") to jointly develop and operate a hybrid-casual game.

About Hybrid-Casual Games

A hybrid-casual game is a game model that combines the simplicity of casual games with the mechanics of online games that can be played for longer periods of time to generate revenue from both in-game purchases and advertisements. It is a category that has continued to grow across the world since 2020, and according to the research company Sensor Tower, had an estimated market size of 2.1 billion dollars in 2023.

KLab has already announced plans to join this business* by utilizing its past experience in the development and operation of mobile online games geared towards the global market, as well as its experience in the operation of the advertising revenue model.

*This was announced in the 2021 4Q Financial Results Presentation as “Focus on the operated casual game area”

Joint Development Overview

KLab’s experience in mobile online games is being brought together with Pocket Pair’s strength in planning and developing unique games to deliver an exciting experience to mobile game players worldwide by jointly developing and operating a hybrid-casual game made for smartphones.

Joint development between the two companies began in 2020, and after numerous prototypes and KPI tests, the project is finally ready for commercialization.

About Pocket Pair

Pocket Pair is one of the few companies in Japan that is garnering attention worldwide for developing and operating indie games. They have even achieved first place multiple times in the Top Currently Global Selling Steam Games ranking. While Pocket Pair is serious about always putting the customer first, they also place great importance on their developers. Even then, they have still managed to go above and beyond that by developing games that are accepted in the global market. Applying a development structure that suits the current generation, Pocket Pair continues to deliver unique games worldwide.

Palworld, a title that kick-started early access on January 19, 2024, is a multiplayer monster taming, open world, survival crafting game made for the PC and Xbox. After just 5 and a half days since its release, Palworld soared with over 8 million copies sold on Steam, and is currently a sensational hit worldwide. Another title, Craftopia, has also sold over 1 million copies worldwide on Steam as a farming, hack and slash, automated building, multi-compatible open world, survival-action game.

Company Name: Pocket Pair Inc.

Office: Higashigotanda Square Building, 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo

CEO: Takuro Mizobe

Founded: April 2015

Business: Game planning, development, and operation

URL: https://www.pocketpair.jp