MMORPG MapleStory’s web3 version wants to leverage nostalgia to draw players

MapleStory N, the Avalanche-based Web3 incarnation of the popular MMORPG MapleStory, aims to stand out in the Web3 gaming market by leveraging the strong nostalgia associated with the original game, Nexpace CEO Sunyoung Hwang told The Block in an interview.

MapleStory N is a PC-based MMORPG that integrates blockchain technology with the world's famous MapleStory IP.

“We need to see a Web3 game that makes users want to spend, not just their money but become fans and enthusiasts of the content,” said Hwang of Nexpace, the Web3 arm of gaming giant Nexon, which reported over $2.9 billion in annual revenue last year.

The Nexpace CEO said the biggest bottleneck for blockchain-based games remains the most obvious: onboarding real players who enjoy the actual gaming experience.

MapleStory, born in 2003, remains Nexon's most famous face. According to its official website, it garnered over 260 million players worldwide during its run.

“I think there’s a huge platform of people that hold good memories of MapleStory from the past, and that’s the target population we aim for rather than current players of the game,” said Hwang. “In terms of how many real users we can bring, I think we have the competitive edge, which makes our unique point in the Web3 scene.”

Last month, MapleStory N published its 10-day user testing results from 1,000 participants, which showed an overall retention rate of 82%. 

Fixing Web2 problems

MapleStory’s upcoming Web3 rendition builds on the original's successful gaming design. It adds a blockchain layer with NFTs and token-linked game money to resemble an open market economy. 

In many Web2 and Web3 games, users are directed to pay more money to gain  competitiveness in the game, as what some game users lament as “pay-to-win.”

The original MapleStory had also faced heavy criticism from players for allegedly inducing users to spend more money in the game, where South Korea's Fair Trade Commission reportedly ruled that the match manipulated the probability of winning “loot box” items.

In an effort to provide users with a more transparent and equitable gaming experience, MapleStory N plans to issue NFT game items and rewards in limited quantities, which can only be attained through gameplay.

Moreover, the price of an NFT item or upgrading an item will be purely driven by in-game demand, designed to prevent unnecessary inflation in-game.

“Web2 games would issue more items when there are more users and fewer when there are fewer users, which makes the whole in-game economy very vulnerable,” Hwang said. “In [MapleStory N], the entire amount of in-game items and in-game money is limited from the start, and a limited amount is issued every week.”

The in-game economy is supported by a currency named Neso, linked to Nexpace’s ecosystem token NXPC. 

Future plans

Nexpace intends to launch MapleStory N as part of an expansive ecosystem named the MapleStory Universe, which encompasses other dapps based on the IP, such as a decentralized item marketplace and an on-chain game item data tracker, that further help users immerse into the Web3 ecosystem, in which NXPC acts as the utility token.

“Of course, everything has side effects. We do test out models and try to perfect them, but it’s natural for various problems to arise during live runtime,” said Hwang, explaining that the team will work to fine-tune the game ecosystem to be more decentralized after the launch. “For critical matters, we already have safety nets set in place.” 

The Nexspace CEO said the company will be able to announce concrete developments regarding the launch of MapleStory N around the end of the year and beginning of 2025. Meanwhile, as South Korea bans the release of any blockchain-based games, MapleStory is expected to be available outside of its home country upon release.