GungHo announces the acquisition of Game Arts

Already responsible for maintaining one of the largest online gaming communities in Japan, GungHo has further strengthened its position in the market with the acquisition of veteran development studio Game Arts.

GungHo, established in 2002, was one of the first companies to take advantage of the broadband boom in Japan, providing a huge portfolio of online and community-based games, including Asia's number one online game, Ragnarok. Its online community management and portfolio of products has resulted in GungHo becoming one of Japan's fastest growing games companies.

The company has a long-standing relationship with Game Arts, which itself has an established history in the videogames industry. Game Arts continues to develop a range of RPG and action titles on multiple platforms, including the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation 2. The company's recent successes include PS2 versions of the Japanese RPG series, Grandia, published by Square-Enix.

Game Arts and GungHo recently announced that a new title, Grandia Online is in development, which breaks away from the traditional format of the series and moves instead into the increasingly mass-market genre of MMOGs. The acquisition should solidify the relationship between the two companies, reducing development costs and enabling a more direct pooling of resources and expertise for future game development.

GungHo confirmed earlier in the year that it will be utilising AEGIA's PhysX technology to create immersive and highly interactive online worlds in its future gaming projects.