Bit Hit Entertainment has announced its acquisition of Seoul-based music game company Superb.
The K-pop powerhouse declined to reveal any details around the arrangement — at least beyond the top level. According to an email sent to Digital Music News, Superb will retain its current management and its “unique color and independence as a game company.”
That raises an interesting question: is this Big Hit Entertainment’s first foray into the world of game development?
Big Hit Entertainment has been on a buying spree since the summer started. They recently acquired Source Music in July, a mid-sized Korean agency that represents Gfriend. The acquisition of Superb will allow the label to create in-house mobile games based on its bands.
Superb will use Big Hit Entertainment‘s intellectual property to create global game releases. The acquisition is so fresh that no ground plans have been laid for future development schedules. Still, we could see more games based on popular K-pop groups.
Big Hit founder and CEO Bang Si-hyuk says the acquisition will help expand the label’s power.
“Big Hit believes games is an industry that can create strong synergy with music, our main focus. We believe this acquisition will provide positive value and opportunities to both companies, as well as Big Hit’s expanding multi-labels.”
Wait, there’s already at least one mobile game based on BTS, right?
Yep, you’re not crazy. BTS World released earlier this year in partnership with Netmarble.
Does this spell trouble for the Netmarble BTS mobile game, BTS World? Big Hit Entertainment says it will “continue to strengthen its partnership with Netmarble apart from the acquisition of Superb.” BTS World is estimated to have raked in at least $3 million since it launched just a few months earlier in July. Not bad for a free-to-play game with the world’s most rabid fanbase.
Superb is a Seoul-based game developer that was established in 2016. Its most popular game is Pianista: The Legendary Virtuoso, which is a rhythm game on Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. Superb has also created another rhythm game based on Yumi’s Cells.