Video games & franchises
KoreaVideo games & franchises
Nexon (넥슨)
The inventor of free-to-play with microtransactions, five years before the West thought of it.
- Founded
- 1994
- Headquarters
- Tokyo / Seoul
- Sector
- Development and publishing
- Flagship product
- MapleStory, Dungeon & Fighter
In 2001 Nexon dropped the subscription from its game QuizQuiz and replaced it with the sale of cosmetic items. The idea looked absurd to an industry living off boxed copies and monthly fees; within fifteen years it became the dominant business model of world gaming.
The studio then applied it to MapleStory and Dungeon & Fighter, two titles totalling hundreds of millions of players, above all in China. Nexon is now listed in Tokyo, where its founder settled, and remains one of the rare Korean players whose influence on industry practice far exceeds its catalogue.
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