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Nexon has entered into a strategic partnership with Shiver Entertainment, a new studio formed by industry veteran John Schappert.
Schappert recently left his role at Zynga as chief opperating officer, was founder of Madden NFL studioTiburon Entertainment, and has previously served as COO of EA and corporate VP of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business.
The agreement gives Shiver a cash equity investment in exchange for a strategic equity stake in the company, and provides Nexon exclusive worldwide multi-product and multi-year publishing rights to games developed by Shiver.
As part of the deal, Nexon CFO and chief administrative officer Owen Mahoney will join Shiver’s board of Directors.
“John is one of the world’s most respected developers and has been responsible for building some of the industry’s most fun and financially successful franchises,” said Mahoney.
“This announcement represents another significant milestone in our strategy to build our business in key Western markets by working with world-class developers and bringing our unmatched free-to-play online expertise to global markets. We look forward to leveraging the strengths of both companies to develop new, successful franchises loved by players around the world.”
Shiver was founded in December 2012 in Miami, Florida, and will focus on free-to-play titles for PC, mobile, and tablets.
“Nexon has an extraordinary track record of successfully partnering with a select few of the best game developers in the world, and we are proud to partner with them,” said Schappert.
“Shiver Entertainment is focused on creating the world’s best free-to-play games and by working together, we combine Nexon’s expertise in online free-to-play games and global publishing capability with our AAA Western-oriented games. It’s a perfect match and we are very excited about our bright future together.”
