Gaming giant Nexon has decided to invest $100 million to fuel the expansion of its Web3 intellectual property, MapleStory Universe.
The company, which is currently valued at $27 billion, said the $100 million injection will primarily be used to fund its operations.
MapleStory M, the original web2 MMORPG developed by Nexon and NSC, has been a huge success since its launch in October 2016.
By September 2023, mobile games had reached $600 million in cumulative sales, but reviews for the games have been lackluster in recent months.
The game earned $55 million in just 35 days after entering the highly competitive Chinese gaming market.
MapleStory M, which was created as an expansion of Nexon’s flagship MapleStory IP, which has been popular around the world since its launch in 2003, transitioned to mobile in October 2016 and laid the foundation for the game’s global expansion in July 2018.
MapleStory is now challenging web3 games and blockchain technology.
The move aims to redefine the MMORPG experience by introducing RX 2.0, which combines the core Reward Experience (RX) with blockchain technology.
The studio hopes this move will increase the rarity and usefulness of in-game items, increasing their value both in-game and out-of-game.
MapleStory also plans to build an NFT-based ecosystem, allowing players to earn a limited amount of NFTs through playing games with peer-to-peer trading possible.
This approach provides a more controlled approach to inflation compared to an unlimited issuance system. This is a power consumption issue that applies not only to Maple Story but to all games within the genre.
MapleStory Universe plans to introduce ‘MapleStory N’, a PC MMORPG game with the same IP.
Well, MapleStory N Mobile is the mobile variant of this PC game.
Both platforms allow users to interact with NFTs they own.
In addition, MapleStory N World and MapleStory N SDK, a sandbox platform where creators can develop new games, will also be introduced.
This approach is expected to open the door to scalability and scalability beyond existing ecosystems.
Although specific details regarding token issuance and service launch have not yet been disclosed, the direction of the project is expected to become clear through the roadmap scheduled for the first half of 2024.
Earlier this year, Nexon integrated Polygon Supernets, a blockchain that caters to online gaming demand.
MapleStory Universe reimagines MapleStory’s understanding of the in-game economy through Polygon integration, allowing players to earn and trade NFT items during gameplay.
Nexon’s newly announced $100 million funding will accelerate web3-centric initiatives along with the MapleStory Universe ecosystem comprised of MapleStory N.