Albus, a hyper-casual game developer based in Korea, has secured KRW 500 million (USD 388,000) in seed funding from Kakao Ventures.

Albus develops hyper-casual games for mobile users worldwide. These games are easy to control and simple, making them accessible to a broad audience. Following the success of WaterPark Boys, Albus developed another engaging hyper-casual game, Awesome Park: Idle Game, and signed a licensing agreement with global publisher Supercent.

WaterPark Boys, which focuses on building and growing a personal waterpark, was released in mid-June and achieved over 1 million downloads within two weeks. Players can indirectly manage a waterpark by hiring and overseeing staff and expanding the park with various themes. Awesome Park, set for release later this year, is a hybrid casual game that combines idle arcade elements with advanced level design and tycoon features.

With this investment, Albus plans to develop new theme park-style games. Unlike the premium game market, which requires a specialized marketing strategy to secure loyal users, the hyper-casual genre appeals to a global audience due to its broad accessibility. It has lower user acquisition costs and can generate ad revenue based on high traffic. Albus’s theme park-style games are expected to capitalize on these advantages and attract users worldwide.

Albus is led by CEO Byungjoo Son, a former content production expert, and comprises developers with extensive experience and technical expertise in content creation.

Jiwung Kim, Senior Investment Manager at Kakao Ventures, stated, “In a time of significant change in user acquisition (UA) marketing, the hyper-casual genre is an attractive field for mega volume business. Albus has proven its high potential for success in the global market through its collaboration with Supercent, and we expect them to lead future changes in the gaming market.”

CEO Byungjoo Son of Albus said, “We aim to capture both the inherent fun of games and growth by expanding development from the hyper-casual genre to hybrid casual areas that maximize profitability. Our goal is to become a game developer beloved by mobile gamers worldwide.”