Here’s what players should expect
The Alpha:
- In an article published last week (March 12, 2023), global video game publisher Nexon announced that it is launching a blockchain-based iteration of MapleStoryone of the flagship games.
- MapleStory was first released in 2003 in South Korea and currently has more than 180 million registered players worldwide. Thanks to this huge user base, Nexon’s move could speed up the development of blockchain games and the widespread use of NFTs.
- The new release will be titled The MapleStory universeand Nexon have selected Polygon, an Ethereum scaling network, to support the Web3 expansion and provide technical and business support for the game
Dive deeper
Web3 gaming remains one of the most potential NFT use cases out there. With the global gaming market reaching over $200 billion by 2022, the industry is ripe with potential. And it looks like Nexon is hoping to tap into some of that potential with one of its most beloved titles.
MapleStory is a highly valued name in the gaming community. One of Nexon’s primary IP offerings, the game has generated over $4 billion in revenue and secured 180 million registered players, according to a recent earnings report.
The blockchain-based iteration, The MapleStory universe, will be built on Polygon Supernets, a blockchain development platform that aims to help Web3 developers create their own blockchain protocols. Polygon Supernets perform a similar function to Avalanche Subnetts, to which they are often compared. These networks allow developers to build and use a blockchain sub-network for individual projects, protecting them from poor performance issues on the main networks they are a part of.
Polygon Labs, which is a development and growth team for the Polygon protocol, will provide technical and business support for The MapleStory universe.
“We look forward to expanding the NFT ecosystem that we envision The MapleStory universe by building on Polygon, the best protocol for web3 games. It is the perfect choice to power the ecosystem,” The MapleStory universe says group leader Sun-young Hwang in the press release. “We will work closely with the team at Polygon Labs to develop and market the game.”
What this means for the players
In an article explaining why Nexon decided to turn to blockchain technology, the company noted that its goal is to create an NFT-centric ecosystem that allows players to have full visibility into the decision-making process, participate in IP development and have actual ownership of their assets.
“While there are many benefits to blockchain technology, Nexon has focused on three in particular: (1) Transparency, with all information recorded on the chain for all to see. (2) An open ecosystem, where anyone can contribute to the project and earn rewards for their contributions. (3) Extended utility, through free movement of assets in the game,” they wrote.
To this end, the team noted that users will have a clearer view of the decisions and changes being made, as the developers’ designs and decision-making processes will now be fully visible on-chain. And since the entire process is recorded on-chain, it will be more difficult for developers to change the rules on a whim, as they are fully visible to all users. “The transparent governance of the blockchain and the decentralization of power it provides make developers’ design and decision-making processes fully visible and trustworthy. This way, users can more easily immerse themselves in the virtual world,” the team explained.
Also, Nexon will no longer act as an administrator with full control over the server. Instead, it will be a developer participating in an open ecosystem. As a result, other contributors will be more equal and it will be easier to identify these other contributors. The company explains that this “allows for more proactive contributions and ensures that contributors are fairly rewarded for their work.”
This increase in transparency and decentralization certainly sounds like a good thing. But unfortunately, potential players will have to wait a bit to see exactly how this all plays out, as the game currently has no release date.
