Android app emulator Duodian to make Kakao's mobile games available on PC

South Korea's chat app operator Kakao is teaming up with Android app emulator Duodian Network to make popular mobile games such as Friends Run, Seven Nights, and Friends Pop available on PC.

The corporation behind South Korea's most popular messenger app said on Monday it inked a deal with the maker of Android app emulator Nox App Player to work out compatibility issues to optimize the Kakao Game app for PC in the third quarter of this year and for Mac before the end of 2016.

Critics sometimes complain that Android apps aren't designed for the keyboard, and aren't scaled for a larger computer monitor. By working together, Kakao said there will be fewer compatibility issues when running Kakao games on PC on Nox than other Android app emulators.

Through the Nox Android app emulator, mobile users can get smooth gameplay from their favourite games on a large-sized PC monitor and without all those smartphone battery issues, Kakao said.

"Through this partnership, people will continue to have the same convenient and smooth user experience on PC as on a mobile platform. The needs of mobile gamers change quickly, and we must continue to provide that pleasant and convenient user environment on PC," the company said in a statement.

When people think about Android app emulators for PCs, they tend to think of Bluestacks, Andy, or Youwave, but Nox has been trending in East Asia for months. Nox App Player's most recent iteration is version 3.3 and Duodian has been rolling out new features almost every month since they launched Nox in June 2015.

China-based Duodian Network is a tech startup focusing on Android emulator development.

Kakao last month reported a drop in net income on increased operating expenses as it looks to add to its expansive menu of O2O ventures.

Source: ZDNet.co.kr