Interesting article about MapleStory's 2008 revenue.

I'm not surprised, actually. Lots of versions of MS are around, and it's counting for all versions of MS, since one of the revenue sources is international licensing.

I'm not surprised, actually. Lots of versions of MS are around, and it's counting for all versions of MS, since one of the revenue sources is international licensing.

Exactly, Global MS has about 8.2 million players total including nonactives. Add this is to the tens of millions in Korea, Japan and China. Then add those to Taiwan, Thailand, South East Asia (Malaysia and Singapore), Europe, Brazil and Vietnam and BAM, there's your 87 million players +.

wtp @ club penguin?

I used to play it some minutes.. but then it was so pointless I quitted..

Same here

Anyways, THAT MUCH?!?! HOW MUCH DOES A NEXON EMPLOYEE EARN A YEAR? Imagine, with so many versions - wow. So many people buying prepaid cards, and all.

This is insanity. I expected, like, less than 100m. The guy behind Maple must be a genius.

Regarding Club Penguin, since my 8-year-old plays it, I can make a few comments:

It's "pointless" in the sense that there is no goal, like to level. However, there's quite a bit to do. Mystery "quests" to solve (all repeatable - not sure what the point is in solving a puzzle that is the same every time, but little kids like repetition), games to play against the computer or other kids, stuff to collect/buy, a home to decorate (btw, I think Nexon could make a lot of $$$ if they gave Maplers "homes" that they could furnish with CS items), and pets to play with. There is new content all the time, as well as repeated events to look forward to.

The concept is very successful, and I've seen tons of copycat sites. Parents like these, as opposed to other sites that have a bunch of links to games, because there are no ads and no inappropriate content. It's a "safe place".

It's free to register and do some of the basic things, but for more goodies one has to become a "member", which means paying a monthly fee. You get a discount for paying 6 or 12 months in advance. So, many parents would be cajoled into paying for membership by their kids who want the bigger igloo or w/e. The kid may or may not lose interest after a week, but the money is already in Club Penguin's pocket (I believe that's Disney now, they bought Club Penguin out).

Also, because of the periodic events, even kids who don't visit there a lot, will pop in every once in a while to see what's new, and then it's, "But Mom! Rockhopper's coming back! And my membership expired! Please please please buy me another!" And again, the event may hold the kid's attention for all of 10 minutes, but the monthly fee has already been paid.

So, basically, very good business model. I'm not at all surprised they make good money.

Maplestory is likely #2 as the gross revenue will fall closer to the $500m range rather the $150m range considering holiday spending on microtransactions is much higher than static monthly fees.

And I have made 10+ accounts total, many with distinct IPs. I doubt that 87,000,000 figure is accurate.

Probably something along the lines of 77m+-10m. Corporations are notorious for bending numbers to their advantage even though they are still technically genuine.

"Maple Story developer Minho Kim told me last December that his MMO has 87+ million registrations, but wouldn’t specify how many of them were monthly active users. DFC’s Joost van Dreunen estimates it to be 15-20 percent of that figure — i.e., 13-17.4 million regular Maple Story players."

What a joke.

kMS and jMS spend a lot of $$$ on Maple, too, not just Global.... This isn't just Nexon. And I'm sure the cost is a lot so the actual profits aren't all that great.

87m players is a stretch.