Our latest coverage of Columns.
Ever since the release of World of Warcraft in 2004, the vast majority of MMORPGs have followed the linear quest progression model. While MMORPGs have had questing long before WoW, they were often rare treats tied to lore or unique item. Progression was largely done the old fashioned way: exploration and killing monsters. Questing certainly proved to be a valuable [...]
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On May 10, 2018 Nexon released their Q1 2018 earnings report. A more digestible Investor Presentation slide deck was also released and is filled with interesting charts and figures. The headline figures show that Nexon had a great quarter: revenues were up 21% year over year, due significantly to the stronger than expected results of Dungeon Fighter Online in China. [...]
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Neowiz announced today that their highly anticipated buy to play fantasy MMORPG will be launching into early access on May 28th, 2018. The game has undergone a lot of changes since it launched in South Korea and Russia with the Steam version featuring overhauled combat, performance optimizations, and much more. Neowiz's CEO seems to be pretty excited: “It’s been a [...]
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The English version of MapelStory 2 officially began its closed beta testing today (at 10AM PST) and it will run until May 16th. As with any highly anticipated beta launch there were some launch issues, but they got resolved pretty quickly. While there will be a wipe after closed beta testing, this is the first time players can try the [...]
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It was during the early years of this century that Western gamers first witnesses an influx of Korean games, with the most common genre being MMORPGs. This influx soon became a tsunami that washed literally hundreds upon hundreds of games of varying quality upon our shores. This 'Korean Wave', as I just coined it, left a permanent mark on the [...]
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Funcom has been busy gearing up for the May 8th launch of their Early Access title Conan Exiles. The buy-to-play survival game has been available for purchase for PC since January 2017, but the full retail release will be the first time PlayStation 4 players will have a chance to try the game. The Funcom team has created several videos [...]
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Earlier this week Arc Games announced that two of their Chinese-developed MMORPGs would be shutting down. Jade Dynasty and Swordsman are the two causalities, players will be refunded with Arc credit for any purchases they made since February 1st. Cash shop currency is no longer available for sale in either game, but the servers will remain open until June 5. [...]
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The European Union passed a set regulations back in April 2016 called the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR for short. While that was over two years ago, the actual enforcement of the new regulations only come into effect starting on May 25, 2018. Broadly speaking, the goal of the GDPR is "to protect and empower all EU citizens data [...]
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A new report by Newzoo shows that mobile gaming now makes up over half of the global gaming market by revenue. In their latest quarterly update to their Global Games Market Report, Newzoo forecasts that total gaming revenue for 2018 will hit $137.9, a 13.3% increase from last year. Mobile gaming will make up $70.3 billion (51%) of that total. [...]
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Burned out on Diablo 3 and Path of Exile, but still getting that ARPG itch? Well, Last Epoch just may be your next fix. The fantasy/time travel themed action RPG just launched both their Kickstarter campaign and their singleplayer demo this week. While the Kickstarter campaign may have just launched, this is not just another concept pitch. Last Epoch has [...]
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