Nexon joining the blockchain and metaverse race with MapleStory

[Source: Nexon]

South Korean gaming giant Nexon that has so far been careful with the rush towards the play-to-earn model will incorporate blockchain starting with its steady-selling MapleStory intellectual property (IP).

“It has been less than a year since the hype over ‘Play to Earn (P2E)’ model first began. Since it still is in the fledging stage, blockchain games have shown many flaws with its much emphasis on selling coins and items to make a profit,” said Kang Dae-hyun, the COO of Nexon during the Nexon Developers Conference (NDC) held on Wednesday.

Nexon, however, has changed its stance on metaverse games and now believes that it has a hidden potential, he added.

Kang unveiled four projects during the NDC – MapleStory N, MapleStory N Mobile, Mod N, and MapleStory N SDK.

MapleStory N is a role-playing video game (RPG) game based on MapleStory where users can collect NFTs and tokens by slaying monsters and completing quests. Players also have complete ownership over the items earned during the game and can trade them with other players.

Kang Dae-hyun. [Source: Nexon]

“On MapleStory N, the only way players can collect items is to actually play the game as there are no cash shops or items that people can buy with cash,” said Kang.

Mod N is a platform where users can develop creative content and games using various assets from MapleStory.

On MapleStory N SDK, users can create various MapleStory NFT-based apps.

The NDC will be held until Friday and 60 different lectures about game development, programming, data analysis, metaverse and NFT, and careers will be available.

Shares of Nexon listed in Japan traded up 2.05 percent at 3,240 yen or 30,529 won ($24.29) on Wednesday afternoon.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]