MapleStory's Impact on MMOs Can Still Be Seen Today

gamerant.com:

The gaming industry lost a major figure when Kim Jung-Ju, founder of Nexon, passed away last month — announced by the company on February 28. While Nexon has been responsible for many huge titles, it's perhaps best known for the 2003 sensation MapleStory. When MapleStory first came to North America in May 2005, its overseas popularity translated well, and it became one of the first Asian MMOs to truly break into the western market.

Nearly two decades after its launch, MapleStory is still going strong, even hosting a BTS collaboration two years ago. MapleStory has a myriad of reasons to explain its enduring popularity with its loyal fans, and most of them also explain its effect on other current-generation MMORPGs. While it is remembered for its quirky 2D art style paired with addicting combat, MapleStory's true legacy lies in the way it changed the revenue models of online games.

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While there are older examples of microtransactions appearing in games, MapleStory was among the first major titles to popularize the system. Since it was one of the few free-to-play game options available to western audiences at the time, alongside RuneScape, MapleStory was enjoyed by a massive amount of players who may not have otherwise spent money on games. In order to remedy the lack of revenue from player subscriptions or initial purchases, MapleStory introduced microtransactions — a concept that is now ubiquitous across nearly all genres of gaming. It's arguably the main driver behind most AAA gaming companies' revenue, netting Activision Blizzard over $5 billion USD last year alone.

Though it was one of the first games to introduce microtransactions, MapleStory also established the