Maple Story is a casual, web-based MMOG created by Nexon Corp in Korea, who also make Kart Rider, Korea's second most popular multiplayer online game. Nexon have teamed up with MTV to launch Maple Story in the US.
MapleStory is a global, mass-market phenomenon, having attracted 50 million registered users worldwide through its ease-of-use, award-winning game play, robust community and the ability to personalize game characters in endless whimsical combinations.
.. gasps the press release in my inbox. The PR also sums up MTV's rather massive moves in the online games business recently: when tied together, it's quite the package:
Beginning in early 2007, marketing campaigns for MapleStory will run across a portfolio of MTVN television and online brands including MTV, MTV2, mtvU, Comedy Central, The-N, Neopets.com, Shockwave.com, Addictinggames.com, Gametrailers.com and Xfire.
I wasn't actively aware that MTV had bought both Neopets and Xfire. Pretty impressive, eh?
It'll be interesting to see how this takes off in the US: no-subscription, micropayment based gaming is massive in Asia, as is the classically kawaii look & feel of the game. Will it translate across?
I'm betting yes.
Windows-only (and IE only, horribly): Maple Story.
Aye aye. Maple Story has been out in the US for ages; the global Maple server has (iirc) ~20,000 simultaneous users, mostly US, and signficant revenues.
This is more in the line of a 'relaunch' or 'MTV launch'. It is interesting, but there's already no question that Maple works (at a certain scale) in the US market.
Posted by: Daniel James | November 29, 2006 at 20:18
Whether it works or not really isn't dependant on the game. I used to play it and it's a cute enough hack and slash, good for a quick diversion when you need to turn off your brain and just chill. The real question is if they'll fix it. The reason I, and my friends, quit was the massive number of bugs. It's hardly a finished product. I guess we'll see how invested they are in making it work. As for me, I'm not spending a dime until it's a whole game.
Posted by: Prana | December 01, 2006 at 17:04
i have a lvl 81 lol
Posted by: jackattack | January 04, 2007 at 01:29
i really want to play mple story but my parents wont let me download it. i wish there was a diffrent way to play
Posted by: tony | June 27, 2007 at 20:30