Readers might remember that Nexon’s push into crypto has gone as one might expect, with $40M disappearing into the void in 2021 and continued losses reported in last year’s fourth quarter financial report. Even so, the company is still driving forward into the scheme with the reckless abandon of a rabid moose as it confirmed and expounded upon a crypto and NFT gaming ecosystem that it previously announced, tied to the MapleStory IP.
This initiative begins with MapleStory N, a new game that lets players acquire limited NFT rewards by clearing quests and slaying monsters in each zone. These NFTs are associated with the Polygon Etherium blockchain platform and will have a “recognized and wider value” within Nexon’s MapleStory Universe NFT ecosystem, as NFTs will reportedly provide benefits and utilities in other titles within the “universe.” Incidentally, this means Nexon is promising additional NFT games associated with the ecosystem, but there are no specifics offered beyond that.
Typically, there also isn’t much information about an actual playable game, as the vast majority of details are focused on Nexon’s partnership with Polygon Labs, the history of MapleStory itself, and Nexon’s stated excitement of its continued NFT aspirations. There isn’t even any release timing for MapleStory N; all we have is a hot wind out of GDC.
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GDC 2022: Control, revenue, scarcity, ethics, and the human challenges of the gaming ‘metaverse’
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