One of the great Japanese role-playing game studios has been purchased by a mobile developer.
Japanese developer Tri-ace has been acquired by mobile company Nepro Japan. The Tokyo-based company best known for its Square Enix-published Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile role-playing game franchises will be retooled as a smartphone and tablet developer. Nepro, a mobile sales group, hopes to bolster its games business with the acquisition. This is a notable example of how the global games market is shifting its focus from console games to mobile development, a market that is predicted to hit $30.3 billion in 2015.
The deal is a cash buyout, with the three majority shareholders of the independently owned game maker seeing a cash payout as well as 18,300 shares of Nepro each, worth 1,719 yen (about $14) a share.
Last year’s Square Enix PS3 release Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is the most recent console work for Tri-ace. The team contributed to its development as well as to its predecessor, Final Fantasy XIII.