“There is a definite ‘MapleStory’ brand that players seek, as verified from the success across the world”

Oftentimes in the United States, when a massively multiplayer online game releases, we see what is only in front of us and fail to see the global nature of the game. MMOs attract players from throughout the world, but sometimes the experience has to be tailored to suit the regional marketplace. What works in one area of the world, given cultural differences, might not fly in another.

MapleStory is a two-dimensional, side-scrolling MMO that has been in release in the U.S. for four years. But how is the game being received on a global scale, particularly in Europe?

Naturally curious about the progression of maple story mesos in the European market, Nexon was able to hook GameZone up with Mr. Sung Jin Kim, the director of Nexon Europe, to chat about the game.

Question: maple story mesos  just passed its anniversary. What have you learned about the massively multiplayer space since the game’s launch?

Sung Jin Kim: From the Europe service, we’ve learned that Europe is a very fragmented region where many variables have to be accounted for while servicing and operating an online game. From national infrastructure, consumer behavior, general income, internet usage up to cultural differences, nearly everything is different from one country to the other. This has been very challenging as we tried to settle down in the market. We think we have learned that Europe is still a potentially developing market where there is much more room for the online game marketplace to expand, and the publisher has to be very flexible in order to meet the needs of our diverse player base.

How has MapleStory evolved in the two-plus years of its release and how have you seen the player base evolve?

Sung Jin Kim: We’ve seen a huge progress in terms of the release of game contents as it has been picking up speed with more in-depth features for the gamers, which we believe is one main reason why we have yet seen a cutback in our growth rate after its launch in Europe. In the community level, we’ve been astonished by the loyalty that our core users have been demonstrating by leading the new users, nourishing the community and even giving us help for game operations. They also give us critical feedback as well and this is something that you can’t really buy and the degree of such loyalty has been solidifying as we move forward.