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MapleStory Achieves Highest PC Bang Occupancy Rate in 20 Years

◎ MapleStory Achieves 'Highest Ever' PC Bang Occupancy Rate Since Service

- While 'Diablo IV', which leaped 8 steps last week to settle in 3rd place, is maintaining a stable position, 'MapleStory', which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this week with a variety of content, has regained 4th place with a 2-step rise. Following a significant reduction in growth difficulty, such as halving the required experience from level 200 to level 260, much attention is being focused on the 6th job advancement update scheduled for July. According to PC bang statistics service 'The Log', 'MapleStory's PC bang occupancy rate on the 18th was 10.21%, which Nexon stated was the highest figure since the game's service began.

◎ Mabinogi Celebrates 19th Birthday, Interest in Engine Replacement News ↑

- Similarly, Nexon's long-running online game 'Mabinogi', which has been loved by gamers for a long time, also announced surprising news at an offline event last weekend. The large-scale project 'Mabinogi Eternity', which replaces the Playone engine that has been used for 19 years with the Unreal Engine, is that news. The development team's position is that they will improve graphics and visuals through engine replacement, while adding accessibility to Mabinogi's unique charm.

The task of replacing the development engine of a game in service is said to be more difficult than developing a new game, so it is unlikely that the project will be completed in the near future. However, Nexon plans to share all the processes of the 'Mabinogi Eternity' project through the official website starting in the second half of this year.

◎ Did Our Style Work? 'Land of the Morning Light' Receives Global Acclaim

- Pearl Abyss's MMORPG 'Black Desert', which succeeded in rising 1 step compared to the previous week, officially launched the global service of 'Land of the Morning Light' on the 14th. Accordingly, evaluations from global media have also begun to be published, and as of now, 'Land of the Morning Light' has a decent Metacritic score of 82 points. Global media are giving high scores to the unique worldview and story of 'Land of the Morning Light', and IGN France in particular gave 90 points, becoming the media with the highest score to date.

This Week's Steam Game Trends

◎ Today's Steam Trend Game - 'BattleBit Remastered'

- The game that topped this week's Steam trend index is the large-scale FPS game 'BattleBit Remastered', which is scheduled to be released in 2023. It features a vast multiplayer mode with up to 254 participants, and can be enjoyed without burdening system requirements by utilizing low-polygon graphics. The terrain destruction gimmick inspired by the 'Battlefield' series, a hallmark of large-scale FPS games, and a variety of equipment are added to the 127vs127 battle to deliver a thrilling war experience.

◎ Embark Studios' New Game 'THE FINALS' Playtest in Progress

- The new FPS 'THE FINALS', which is being developed by Embark Studios under Nexon, has been conducting a closed beta test since the 14th. Despite being a playtest attended by only a small number of invited players, it recorded 18,000 concurrent users, and tests are being conducted on game modes and changes not shown in previous tests. The playtest will be held through the Steam store page until the 21st.

◎ 'Cyberpunk 2077' Ranked 2nd Most Popular Game in South Korea

- 'Cyberpunk 2077', which released information about the new DLC 'Phantom Liberty' during the Summer Game Fest week last week, ranked 2nd in the most popular games in South Korea based on the Steam store. This is a significantly higher ranking compared to charts in other major countries, and even higher than Poland, where CDPR is located, proving the interest of domestic gamers. Phantom Liberty, which is available for pre-order, also ranked within the top 10, which seems to be due to the combined discount promotion last week. The 'Phantom Liberty' DLC is expected to be officially released in September.

Domestic Mobile Game Ranking

◎ "Can't Resist Kazuha" 'Genshin Impact' Returns to 6th Place in Google Revenue

- Hoyoverse's Genshin Impact has succeeded in re-entering the revenue rankings through the new banner that started on the 13th. It is believed that the rerun of the character 'Kaedehara Kazuha', who can be expected to have high efficiency and performance in various party combinations, was effective. As a character that increases convenience not only in combat but also in general adventure situations, and is considered 'essential' by many, this banner is expected to be a good opportunity for users who want to start the game.

◎ 'Uma Musume' Starts 1st Anniversary Event, Ranked 7th in Google Play Store Revenue

- 'Uma Musume Pretty Derby', which started its full-fledged 1st anniversary event last week on the 15th, also succeeded in re-entering the top 10 in Google Play revenue. A free draw campaign is being held during the event period, and the Kitasan Black pickup, which is called the 'must-have character' from the early days of service, is being held together, attracting high interest. Most of the events will be held until July 19th, and Kakao Games has also released a beta version client so that you can enjoy the game on PC to commemorate the 1st anniversary service.

◎ Temptation of 1024 Draws, Idle Game 'Pixel Hero' Ranked 1st in App Store

- The idle game 'Pixel Hero', with the tempting title of "Free 1024 Draws", achieved the top spot in revenue on the Apple App Store last weekend. Although the ranking has dropped in the popularity ranking in the past few days, it is still maintaining a high ranking as an idle game. 'Pixel Hero' is a mobile strategy RPG developed and serviced by Chinese developer Ujoy Games, and conducted pre-marketing with singer Norazo as a promotional model last week. The pixel-style graphics that are easy for anyone to approach and the temptation of draws seem to have succeeded in attracting high interest.

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Webzine Inven김규만 기자
2023-06-19