GRAVITY TO PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE GAME DEVELOPMENT FUND

HatTip to Dave. I guess Gravity, a one-hit wonder online gaming company, is entering the investment side of the gaming industry. From it's offical press release:

Gravity announced that it has decided to invest Japanese Yen 1 Billion in "Online Game Revolution Vol. 1," an investment fund organized in Japan, pursuant to the approval of Gravity's board of directors meeting held on November 29, 2005. "Online Game Revolution Vol.1" ("Online Game Fund"), with a total proposed investment size of Japanese Yen 10 Billion, has an investment objective of investing in companies which develop online games in Japan. Movida Investment Inc., an affiliate of SoftBank Group ("Movida"), will operate the fund as the general partner of the fund.

Several Japanese and Korean developers of online games, including CJ Internet Corp. have agreed to invest in Online Game Fund. Mr. Il Young Ryu, the chief executive officer of Gravity said, "We hope that we will be able to contribute to the development of the online game industry in Japan with this investment, as the fund will invest in early-stage online game companies in Japan. We further hope that, in connection with this investment, we will be able to strengthen our online game publishing capability by gaining access to promising online games developed by investee companies, in addition to achieving appropriate rates of return as an investor in the fund." Mr. Ryu also noted, "We are also contemplating future investment in another fund (Global Highway Fund), contemplated target investment size of approximately 100 Billion KRW which will target developers of games and game related technology companies in Korea and elsewhere. We intend to continue to utilize some of our available cash to invest indirectly in companies with excellent technical competence and capability to commercially offer their products."