MapleStory Goes Crypto—But Not Just for PCs
The folks behind *MapleStory*, the side-scrolling MMORPG that’s been around since 2003, are diving into blockchain—and they’re not stopping at just one game. Their new project, *MapleStory Universe*, is built around NFTs and crypto, but the bigger story might be how they’re trying to adapt a 20-year-old game for players who don’t have hours to grind anymore.
Last month, *MapleStory N* launched as the flagship title in this ecosystem. It’s a PC game that sticks close to the original’s look and feel, but with a twist: in-game items are NFTs on Avalanche’s gaming-focused Henesys network. Players can buy, sell, or trade them freely. That’s neat, sure, but the developers at Nexpace (Nexon’s blockchain division) admit it’s just the start—and PC-only might be a problem.
Grinding on the Go (Or on the Toilet)
Keith Kim, Nexpace’s head of strategy, put it bluntly: “How do we extract the core fun of these games without forcing people to sit at a PC?” The answer, apparently, is a bunch of mobile and web apps that let players chip away at progress in smaller doses. Think of it like *EA FC*’s Ultimate Team mode, where you can tweak your squad on your phone instead of booting up a console.
The first of these companion apps—a web-based tool for upgrading items—should drop by late July or August. More are coming, including one that’s… interesting: a rental system where you can pay other players to level up your character for you. That one’s still early in discussions, though, and might not arrive until 2026.
Kim’s reasoning makes sense. A lot of *MapleStory*’s original fanbase are adults now, with jobs and responsibilities. “We’re extracting these [game elements] out to mobile and web so you can have a more relaxed relationship with the core game,” he said. Translation: grind at work, play for fun on weekends.
Third-Party Developers and a Permissionless Future
Nexpace isn’t building all this alone. They’re talking to outside developers to create apps that tie back into *MapleStory N*, and Kim says the response has been overwhelming—hundreds of emails in just two weeks. The plan is to roll out “easily over a dozen” of these smaller experiences by early next year.
Right now, developers need Nexpace’s approval to build anything in the *MapleStory Universe*, but Kim wants that to change. By late this year, he hopes to open things up with a permissionless system where anyone can contribute—and get paid in NXPC tokens for their work.
It’s a big shift for a game that’s spent decades in a pretty traditional mold. Whether players will embrace the crypto elements—or just tolerate them—is still up in the air. But if nothing else, *MapleStory*’s trying to meet its fans where they are: older, busier, and probably staring at a phone.
