Nexon talks about MapleStory's fifth anniversary

Nexon America is proud to announce that their little browser based client-based (Our apologies! ~Sera) game MapleStory of only 6 million North American players turns five years old today! Who would have thought that this cartoonish side-scrolling chop-em-up would attract such a loyal following? Over the years the game has grown from only a few servers to eleven, from starting off with four classes to having fifteen if counting sub-classes, and countless new zones.

Recently the game sported over 70,000 max concurrent users and more than 95 million players world wide. Still, not a single player has yet to defeat Pink Bean, a cute, yet ferocious boss monster. It seems as though there is still a lot to do, see and conquer in this little game that could. We asked the developers ten questions, so jump below to see their answers. Also, check out their Facebook page.

Massively: MapleStory is known to have a younger audience. How many of your players have grown up with your game, and do they tend to stick around after a certain age?

Nexon: While it's true that MapleStory is young player friendly, we have players of all ages. But a large portion of our users have stuck with us for our entire five year run. For many that means that while playing MapleStory, they've gone through huge milestones, like graduating from high school or even college. We think that's awesome. As our players have changed and grown they've had a major impact on the game itself.

Any chance that the game will ever step out of the side-scrolling world, receiving a graphics upgrade?

It's unlikely that MapleStory will ever leave behind its side-scrolling, platforming heritage. Classic game play and great looking 2D art are a big part of MapleStory's personality. We plan to do everything we can to preserve those aspects of the game for as long as MapleStory is around.

Any other forays into the world of mobile gaming? How soon we will see an iPhone or iPad version?

There are currently no plans to bring MapleStory to mobile gaming in North America.

How do you effectively price your items for children?

We don't think much about users' age when we price an item. We mostly consider the usefulness of an item as well as its value to players.

We've heard you have tens of millions of players. How do you keep up with the demands of such a large, and young, playerbase?

Nexon: We do the best we can to keep up with what our players want through our forums, social media sites, and fan sites. Our users are vocal and expressive, so they don't make it too hard on us. While it can be difficult to cater to such a large audience, it also keeps the game growing and changing with new ideas and influences. We're proud of the diverse features and experiences we offer and a lot of that is a direct result of our users.

How popular are your ranking systems, and what do players receive for being number one?

It's very popular. Currently, MapleStory rankings are all time, so getting a high rank is a serious achievement. Mostly, rankings are about bragging rights and the admiration of your fellow Maplers, but we do sometimes offer prizes to users who reach high ranks when a new class is released.

It's been 5 years of MapleStory. Do you expect it to last 5 more years in its current form, or would you see a "MapleStory 2" coming out?

I would love MapleStory to last another five years, but it's all up to the players. As long as players want to spend time with MapleStory, we will continue to offer them the chance. We want to focus on making the game we have as good as it can be for as long players are playing.

Is there anything you would like to change about the release of the game 5 years ago?

Nexon: If we could do it over again, I think we would adjust the EXP curve right at the beginning. Changing the leveling curve after several years of service was one of the hardest changes we've had to make. I wish we could have had the EXP curve set as we wanted from the beginning, rather than having to change them later.

Nexon America is growing, and it seems MapleStory is too. But will there always be a place in Nexon's line-up once more "mature" titles like Vindictus come out?

I think there will always be a place in Nexon's line-up for any game that is fun. Adding new games means more players, even sometimes very different players, but that doesn't mean we'll forget our current players or how much they've meant to us.

If there is one thing you want potential players to read, to convince them to play MapleStory...what would it be?

MapleStory is fun, has hundreds of quests, thousands of items, and millions of players, and...it's free!

On behalf of Massively, we'd like to thank Nexon for taking the time to answer some of our questions, and we wish them another 5 years of MapleStory!