A fan festival to mark the 20th anniversary of “MapleStory” is held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul on April 28, 2023. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Steadily selling video games that were released years ago are now enjoying much stronger performance than new games, considering the number of users and revenues.
“MapleStory,” the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Nexon Co., celebrated its 20th anniversary this year.
According to the industry tracker The Log, it has achieved a PC bangs (internet cafes) occupancy rate of 10.2 percent as of Sunday, surpassing Blizzard Entertainment Inc.’s new game “Diablo 4″ to claim the third spot on the game list.
Nexon, one of South Korea’s biggest game developers, continues to enjoy strong popularity with its long-standing titles such as “FIFA Online,” “FIFA Mobile,” “Dungeon & Fighter,” and “Sudden Attack,” all of which were released over 10 years ago.
NCSOFT Corp.’s flagship games, “Lineage” released in 1998 and “Lineage II” released in 2003, are also steady sellers, consistently generating over 20 billion won (US$15.5 million) in quarterly sales from the first quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year.
Com2uS Corp.’s flagship game “Summoners War: Sky Arena,” released in 2014, has also enjoyed significant popularity, with esports events held worldwide every year.
“The increase in the number of steady-selling games indicates that the nation’s gaming industry has reached a mature stage,” said Kim Jung-tae, a professor at the School of Game at Dongyang University.
“Furthermore, there is a growing trend of expanding intellectual property beyond games into media works and related products.”
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
