MapleStory N

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.

Overview

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.

Hwang stated that the biggest bottleneck for blockchain-based games remains onboarding real players who enjoy the actual gaming experience.

MapleStory, born in 2003, remains Nexon’s most famous title, with over 260 million players worldwide according to its official website.

“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, revealing an overall retention rate of 82%.

Fixing Web2 Problems

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

In many Web2 and Web3 games, users are encouraged to pay more money to gain competitiveness in the game, a practice referred to by some users as “pay-to-win.”

The original MapleStory faced heavy criticism for allegedly inducing users to spend more on the game, leading to a ruling from South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission regarding manipulated probabilities of winning “loot box” items.

To provide a more transparent and equitable experience, MapleStory N plans to issue NFT game items and rewards in limited quantities, attainable solely through gameplay. The price of NFT items or upgrades will be driven by in-game demand, preventing unnecessary inflation.

“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 will be supported by a currency named Neso, linked to Nexpace’s ecosystem token NXPC.

Future Plans

Nexpace plans to launch MapleStory N as part of an expansive ecosystem named the MapleStory Universe, which will include other dapps based on the IP, such as a decentralized item marketplace and an on-chain game item data tracker. NXPC will act as the utility token in this ecosystem.

“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 become more decentralized after launch. “For critical matters, we already have safety nets set in place.”

The Nexspace CEO announced that concrete developments regarding the launch of MapleStory N will be revealed around the end of the year and early 2025. Meanwhile, due to South Korea’s ban on blockchain games, MapleStory is expected to be available outside of its home country upon release.