Nexon draws massive audience at G-Star

Visitors to Nexon’s exhibition booths play its online RPG, Tree of Savior, during the G-Star 2015 global game fair at BEXCO exhibition center in Busan, Friday. / Courtesy of Nexon Korea

By Yoon Sung-won

BUSAN ― “G-Star 2015”, Korea’s top game fair, drew 34,813 visitors on its first day, Thursday, demonstrating the enthusiasm of game fans here.

Exhibition booths of major game firms including Nexon, the nation’s largest online game enterprise, were crowded with young visitors seeking their turn to test-play games that have yet to be released.

“It is the first time I have seen such a large audience on the first day of the fair, considering it was on a weekday,” a Nexon spokeswoman said.

Nexon prepared 300 exhibition booths, the largest number in G-Star’s 11-year history.

The company showcased seven computer online games including a football game, “FIFA Online 3”, a gunfight game, “Sudden Attack 2”, a racing game, “Need for Speed Edge”, and role-playing games “Hyper Universe,” “Arpiel, Tree of Savior” and “Moonlight Blade Online.” The company also presented eight mobile games including “Heroes of Incredible Tales,” “Legacy Quest,” “Maple Story Mobile,” “Durango,” “Sangokushi Sousouden Online,” “Master of Eternity,” “Mabinogi Duel” and “Fantasy War Tactics.”

Unlike last year, Nexon provided game corners where fair-goers could get hands-on gaming experience with most of the titles, encouraging visitors to stay longer at its booths. In particular, the company has drawn massive audiences by running a game contest corner for “Sudden Attack 2.”

Nexon held what it calls the ENjoy Festival with Spearhead, a local subsidiary of U.S. game giant Electronic Arts, and announced a major update for “FIFA Online 3.” It also said it will run a closed beta-test for “Need for Speed Edge” from Nov. 26 to 29.

NCSOFT has concentrated on its new strategy action game “Master X Master” (MXM) and dedicated all its booths to it.

As the most popular characters from NCSOFT games feature in the new game, the company has worked to add new characters that have unique background storylines.

NCSOFT said that it will strengthen its portfolio of game intellectual property, with a long-term perspective.

“The United States and Japan are leading the content and storytelling business with unparalleled strengths in character intellectual properties,” NCSOFT spokesman Kim Chang-hyun said. “We seek to build our own intellectual property portfolio because we believe a new vision of the game business should be suggested now at the global game fair. We plan to release more diverse forms of cultural content such as movies, cartoons and musicals based on our games.”

NCSOFT said it will have the premier of “Dark Emissary,” a musical based on the story of its online role-playing game “Blade & Soul,” at the Busan Cinema Center, Friday.

Mobile game company Four Thirty Three, the main sponsor of this year’s G-Star, is running an exhibition allowing only 400 visitors who have applied for entrance in advance, which can be seen as a bold experiment.

It provided video previews and test-play corners for its new mobile titles such as “Lost Kingdom” and “Mafia.”

“We have limited the number of visitors here in order to offer the most convenient experience in our booths,” a Four Thirty Three spokesman said.