New trend: Mobile ports of old Korean MMOs are entering the world market
Two South Korean companies are simultaneously preparing global releases of mobile versions of their MMORPGs. Nexon will release multilingual MapleStory M, and NCsoft — Lineage M.
The original versions of role—playing hits have long been exchanged for a dozen years: MapleStory first appeared on the Korean market in 2003, and Lineage – in 1998. Despite this, they are still popular with players in South Korea.
In 2016, MapleStory M received 2 million downloads in the first two weeks after its release in South Korea. A year later, Lineage M topped the local top App Store in a matter of hours and earned a record $11.5 million (13 billion South Korean won) for this market.
Now the publishers of both games are planning an international launch of their projects. Nexon* has already opened pre-registration in MapleStory M, the game will be released before the end of the year. And after the release of the mobile version, the company will release on PC the international version of MapleStory 2 — a three-dimensional sequel to the first part.
NCsoft does not specify the release date of the international version of Lineage M yet, but the development team has already been formed. Japan is named as the first country where sales of the global version will begin, but an English-language version of the game is also planned.
*Formally, Nexon is based in Japan, but it is based in South Korea and primarily produces all its projects at home.
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