Asian free-to-play gaming giant Nexon reported second-quarter revenues and earnings that underscore its proven business model, the company announced today. And the main firepower behind the company’s financials come from online games that are more than a decade old.

Once again, it makes you wonder if free-to-play games, where you play the game for free and pay real money for virtual goods, can be a far better business model than selling games at retail for $60 each, as is popular in the West.

Revenue in the second quarter was $430.5 million, up 2 per cent from the same quarter a year ago. Net income was $290 million in the quarter, up from $173 million a year earlier. The company said the results underscored the company’s strength in live services for ongoing games and validated its business model. But the company also got a big boost from a favourable value for the U.S. dollar.

Dungeon Fighter and MapleStory are both more than 10 years old, but they continue to grow in both players and revenues. Dungeon Fighter Online, known as Dungeon & Fighter in South Korea, continues to engage players in China, while MapleStory showed particular strength in South Korea, where it grew 61 per cent in the quarter compared to a year earlier.

Nexon took its South Korean hit, Overhit, and launched the game in Japan with customizations unique to that market. That resulted in a positive response, Mahoney said. And Nexon’s mobile action role-playing game, Darkness Rises, has been downloaded more than 10 million times worldwide in its first few weeks. MapleStory M, a mobile game, also launched recently in 140 countries.

Looking ahead, Nexon will be launching game services including the MapleStory2 in the West, Overhit on a worldwide basis, and the recently announced Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed in Japan.

PC revenues exceeded Nexon’s outlook in the quarter, driven by strong performance of MapleStory in Korea, while mobile revenues were below the company’s outlook. Operating income was $144 million, better than expected in part due to acquisitions of NAT Games. Costs were also lower than expected.

For the third fiscal quarter ending September 30, Nexon forecasts revenues of $548.8 million to $593 million. It expects net income to be $184.7 million to $216 million. Nexon was founded in 1994, and it has more than 80 live games in 190 countries.

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The most heartbreaking thing about switching from a PC to a MacBook is obviously no longer being able to play “Maplestory.” If you know, you know. But in case you don’t, this article will make up for a lost childhood parked in front of a PC.

Launched in 2003 by South Korean developer Wizet and published by Nexon (another South Korean gaming company), the MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) took fans of online games by storm. At the height of its popularity in 2009, Nexon touted an amazing 92 million players—6 million of which were from North America—holding accounts with the addictive online game.

According to its new website, the goal of the game is to immerse the player into a fantasy world where each individual embarks on their one-of-a-kind Maplestory. Nothing really was more exciting than choosing between blunt bangs and pigtails for the avatar, decidedly going with the milky white skin tone that I couldn’t achieve in real life and taking 20 minutes to decide if I wanted to be a warrior, thief, magician or bowman. (In the end, it was always the magician.) Thus with a fresh character, I strutted out into the Maple world ready to hit some drowsy looking snails with an unimpressive magical burst.

Although there really is no official objective to the game, most players focus on levelling up and socializing with friends by creating parties and guilds. By killing the various (and also adorable) animated creatures, one earns experience (exp.) that helps to get to the next level. Of course, the point in levelling up is to get more access to rare features, more exciting quests and for me, the new hairstyle change you get with the level 25 Amoria quest.

Luckily, for those kids and teenagers who played “MS” in its prime, Nexon has released “Maplestory M” for Android and IOS phone wielders. While the makers of “Maplestory” have attempted to market a mildly successful app version before, the newly redone mobile version garnered an amazing 3 million downloads in the first week. Is it worth the download? Let’s see.

The layout of the Game

Since the fancy phones of today no longer have buttons or keyboards the layout of “Maplestory M” lacks the necessary space to play comfortably. The iconic side-scrolling factor combined with the directional button as well as the skills, quick keys and jump icon leaves limited space for the player to actually see the game itself.

Given this problem, however, this app utilizes every single corner of the touchscreen in a smart and well thought out manner. The top left-hand side of the screen monitors the HP and MP levels alongside the accepted quests while the space on the bottom left is allotted to the translucent directional control button.

On the right-hand side are the fighting controls, potion shortcuts and the jump button all neatly packed into one corner of the screen. While this layout is certainly efficient, the buttons are so close that sometimes the finger will slip and hit the jump button rather than the attack and the character dies while trying to clear a dungeon.

There is no feeling more intense than smashing the attack key on a keyboard, but furiously tapping away at my phone to beat a dungeon boss comes pretty close.

Grinding Is Long Dead

I remember I loved playing “Maplestory” as a kid not necessarily because I was an exceptional player (in fact, I was inept), but because the endless grinding (doing repetitive tasks for an end prize/goal) was both comforting and fun. In the PC version before updates made it easier to level up, it would take weeks to get enough experience to go up a level after one hits 60. Those who could reach level 100 were considered straight up gods — that, or the individual managed to get a bot to grind for them.

In an attempt to address the existence of bots in the game, the creators decided to make the game ridiculously easy to level up. When “Maplestory” released the Cygnus Knights as a new class in 2009, levelling from 1 to 20 took one afternoon rather than three days. In “Maplestory M,” for some reason, there is a pre-installed bot system where the character would miraculously have a mind of its own and play the game automatically.

This new bot system installed with the mobile version helps those with little to no hand-eye coordination (praise) manage to get to portals and destinations without dying en route because of a randomly spawned monster. The first time that the autoplay initiated itself during the game was a bit disorienting; once accepting a quest, the app is designed to auto-navigate the avatar to the destination of the quest, bypassing various monsters and obstacles without sustaining any damage.

So the whole advertising thing about having the player create their Maplestory is undermined by the whole robots playing aspect of the game except accepting quests on one’s behalf. As handy as autoplay is, it defeats the entire purpose of playing an MMORPG.

Art and Graphics

Compared to the original, the mobile version is not as exciting, but it still retains the key elements that made “Maplestory” so popular to begin with. Unlike other popular MMORPGs, such as “Runescape” and “Final Fantasy,” the South Korean game has decidedly cuter graphics and an addictive quality that lies purely in nostalgia. Whereas the art in other games leans toward more realistic art with intricately defined facial features and shading, the anime-like graphics and the effort to make everything look adorable is certainly one of the factors that make “Maplestory” a visually appealing game.

Aptly paired with the cartoonish style are the amazing facial expressions that each character exhibits. While the PC version allowed the player to choose different facial expressions by pressing different keys, “Maplestory M” has built-in facial reactions like a laughing face or comically red and angry eyes when the attack key is pressed. Thankfully the mobile version has so many expressions because how else does one conduct trade or initiate conversation with an absolute stranger at the Free Market?

In Conclusion…

This mobile app is a waste of time. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t enjoyable! After the first few minutes of creating a dorkily named but dope is looking avatar and completing the beginner’s quests, the excitement wavers but the fond memories never fade away. “Maplestory M” is rated N for Nostalgia in my book. 

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MapleStory M, the side-scrolling adventure mobile game for iOS and Android, reached five million downloads in two weeks since its global launch.

In the Apple App Store, MapleStory M is now the #1 Highest Grossing Game in five countries and in the Top 10 Highest Grossing Games in 12 countries, including Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

The mobile game has also achieved Top 10 in Highest Grossing Games in the Google Play Store in 9 countries including Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand.

In the U.S., the game has reached #21 in Highest Ranked Games in the Google Play Store. The game is also #45 in Highest Ranked Games in the Apple App Store.

To celebrate the five million downloads, MapleStory M will host a special in-game giveaway event and provide special rewards to Maplers who log in from August 8th until August 18th.

The game will also host special hot-time events this weekend, and the details will be first announced on the official MapleStory MFacebook page.

New and returning MapleStory players can also visit www.MapleStory.com to register for exclusive events and receive special coupon codes for gift packs coming in MapleStory M.

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