Quote:Nexon Announces Block Party, Hopes to Lure Post-Penguin Generation

What are kids going to do after they leave Club Penguin? Nexon hopes they'll hang out at Block Party. Min Kim, Nexon America's Vice President of Marketing, announced the company's Block Party service, a new brand for its social gaming portal that will be designed to appeal to a slightly older audience.
Kim made the announcement last week in a presentation about social gaming in which he considered future activities for Club Penguin gamers, who he calls "bubble babies." Nexon considers the group the first truly connected generation. Born during the dot.com "bubble," he noted they are already playing online social games.

"By 2012 they're going to be 11, 12, 13," he said, "and the sweet spot for our demo is around 14, 15, 16, and that's not going to happen until 2015. We think that there's going to be an explosion of social gaming behavior by 2015."

Developing a strategy for retaining its young players in the coming years is of no small importance to the growing Korean online game developer. Nexon recently announced that its popular RPG adventure MapleStory, which enjoyed its fourth anniversary this past summer, had attracted 92 million players worldwide, with six million in North America.

What's more, Nexon has plans to serve a total of up to eight games in North America by 2010. These include Dungeon Fighter (due to launch later this year), Mabinogi: Heroes, Dragon Nest, and BnB -- all set for debut in 2010.

Nexon speculates that once kids leave Club Penguin and other kid-targeted services, they're not necessarily going to switch to another form of online gaming. Rather their changing interests and lifestyles will cause them to gravitate towards other types of web entertainment, with destinations and services such as YouTube and iTunes more likely to benefit from this transition rather than gaming sites.

Nexon plans Block Party's slightly older appeal to keep young gamers connected to its community. The key, says Kim, is looking at the concept of community as not only a relationship of users with each other but also one of users to the company.

"The cool thing about this versus what else is going on in the market is that we're going the opposite way," says Kim. "If you look at Facebook, they've gotten all of their users and are figuring out how to keep their users entertained. We've got the games and want to keep a robust community." Kim did not announce an exact launch date for Block Party. --Wes Nihei

Tikey Wrote:These include Dungeon Fighter (due to launch later this year), Mabinogi: Heroes, Dragon Nest, and BnB -- all set for debut in 2010.

Best information I've heard all month.

Sn1perJohnE Wrote:Yes, ive read good things about [SIZE="5"]Mabinog: heroes,[/SIZE] and its supposed to be epic for a free to play game.

ImVindictive Wrote:FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuu-------I WANT THAT GAME SO BAD



[SIZE="7"]>R A G E<[/SIZE]

Sn1perJohnE Wrote:[YOUTUBE]<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/b3PzuNCfZJg&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b3PzuNCfZJg&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

Yes

K!yO Wrote:Hmm, looked up Dragon Nest. actually looked fun n_n

 Spoiler

[YOUTUBE]mdwuiYhmUwM[/YOUTUBE]

ImVindictive Wrote:Stop taunting me with the amazingness T_________T. GOD. The bad assery makes me want to explode in all emphasis in the word. pineapple I'm just going to go all tank mode on all those peaches and break them in half HAHAHAH MUST PLAY. I WANT.NOW LAJFKLJEI

FML ..l.. KOREA WHATS TAKING SO LONG


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Alright I think I'm done.

shroum Wrote:what is mabinogi heros?
like... the video is amazing but whats the game for?
is it like an addition to mabinogi or is it for like xbox 360?

Heidi Wrote:Did anybody else notice this?

"Nexon has plans to serve a total of up to eight games in North America by 2010"

They amaze me. What do they gain by restricting their service areas like that? I sure am pleased I never bought any NX in Maplestory.

Fiel Wrote:Because that's the service area granted to them by their parent company. It's not like Nexon America has any choice but to serve games in America