AGBO, the production company founded by directors Anthony and Joe Russo, has sold a 38% stake in the company to Japanese game company Nexon for $400 million.
Nexon’s strategic investment values AGBO at $1.1 billion. Nexon has agreed to invest up to $100 million more in AGBO in the first half of 2022 if the company requested it.
The deal comes at a time when the demand for content by streaming services is bidding up the value of content creators.
“Film and television have been proven to drive higher engagement and longevity for game franchises, and we are now partnered with the best creators and adapters of franchise IP in film and television,” said Nick van Dyk, president of Nexon Film & Television and chief strategy officer of Nexon. “We are thrilled to work with AGBO to design universes that, from the outset, are intended to coexist across games, film, TV, merchandising, and other experiences.”
AGBO was founded in 2017. It has done film and television projects for Netflix, NBC Universal, Amazon Prime Video, Disney, Apple TV Plus, A24, and Roku.
“AGBO is driven by creatives who aspire to work at the universe scale,” said Anthony and Joe Russo, co-founders and executive chairmen of AGBO. “AGBO’s partnership with Nexon represents a significant juncture for entertainment, furthering the convergence of franchise filmmaking and games with a global reach. Our collaboration is based on our shared vision of the future of storytelling and utilizes the unique talents of both companies.”
“This investment provides a significant accelerant to our founding mission at AGBO—to delight audiences worldwide with ambitious stories told across all forms of media,” added AGBO co-founder Mike Larocca, the Russo Brothers’ producing partner.
Nexon is one of the world’s largest game companies with several of the entertainment industry’s highest grossing franchises, including Dungeon&Fighter at over $18 billion gross revenue; MapleStory, played by almost half the population of South Korea; and KartRider, with more than 380 million registered players on PC alone. In 2021, Nexon acquired Stockholm-based Embark Studios, another game maker.■
