‘Mabinogi’ Director Min-cheol Kang and Director Jin-hoon Lee “Achieved Break-even Point…New BM Revenue↑ Targeting Teens and Twenties…Global Launch Next Year”
Nexon has announced its ambition to grow ‘Mabinogi Mobile,’ which is causing a sensation, into the next core intellectual property (IP) of the company, following ‘MapleStory.’ The company plans to launch it globally next year, focusing on its primary users from the ages of 10 to 20.
Min-cheol Kang, the head of the Mabinogi Mobile business, revealed during a media interview held on the 20th at KT&G Sangsang Planet in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, that “‘Mabinogi Mobile’ achieved sales of over 300 billion won within just seven months of release.”
DevCat’s Jin-hoon Lee, the director of Mabinogi Mobile who also attended the event, stated, “We reported 140 billion won in sales just two months after launch, but we’ve now achieved more than double that.” He added, “The game surpassed the break-even point long ago.”
‘Mabinogi Mobile’ is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) released by Nexon in March, marking its seventh month this month. Developed by Nexon’s subsidiary DevCat and serviced by Nexon, it inherited the sentimental and lifestyle content of the original ‘Mabinogi.’ It quickly gained popularity by ranking first in the game rankings on major app stores right after release. After the ‘Paladin’ update late last month, the number of monthly active users (MAU) surged, making it number one in sales rankings in the mobile RPG category.
Riding this growth, Nexon has set plans to position ‘Mabinogi Mobile’ as the ‘next-generation MapleStory.’ Director Lee remarked that “‘Mabinogi Mobile,’ like ‘MapleStory,’ focuses on gaining the love and popularity of teens and twenties,” and emphasized the internal commitment to the project to ensure it becomes the next ‘MapleStory’ through collaborative efforts.
Nexon also announced its plans to start a global service launch next year while discussing the possibility of expanding the standalone IP. Director Lee explained that the game was initially developed with the global market in mind, anticipating its success worldwide starting next year. Manager Kim added that they are considering various channels for the standalone IP expansion and are discussing how the ‘Mabinogi’ franchise strategy can be integrated.
Manager Kang identified the unique business model (BM) as the game’s most significant distinguishing feature. Unlike traditional combat-centric revenue models, ‘Mabinogi Mobile’ allows players to acquire items through lifestyle content such as logging and part-time jobs. He highlighted the significance of generating sales through this unique BM in an MMORPG market that typically relies on a small number of top-tier players for average revenue generation.
These achievements are reflected in retention rates. According to Nexon, ‘Mabinogi Mobile’ boasts the highest retention levels compared to other live games within the company. The one-day retention rate after launch stood at 61%, and the fourteen-day retention rate was 42%, representing top-level retention among Nexon titles. Manager Kang commented that the game maintains stable and high retention even seven months post-launch.
Nexon believes the game’s primary user base in their teens and twenties presents a high potential for the future. Users in their teens and twenties make up 73.1% of all users. Manager Kang emphasized the goal of making the game appealing to users in their 30s to 60s as well.
High usage rates on the PC platform are also a strength. Manager Kang noted that “‘Mabinogi Mobile’ has broken down the fixed boundaries between PC and mobile platforms,” referencing a recent PC café promotion as an example. He stated that current PC platform usage is around 35%.
By Min-ju Cha, Reporter