By Pzai, Foresight News
On May 15, NEXON, a South Korean game company that has released DNF, MapleStory, and KartRider, launched NXPC. In terms of token distribution, 3% was allocated to BNB HODLers, and it was also listed on exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, Upbit, and Bithumb. Under the wealth effect, NXPC soared to a high of $3.98 at the opening, and its market value reached the $4 billion mark.
A large number of users who participated in the Alpha airdrop distribution were also excited to share the "big hair" event on X. The 198 NXPCs each user received were worth $575 at the current price, which can be called the "largest" airdrop since the launch of Alpha. On the chain, a smart money bought 4.1 million tokens at an average price of $1.36 one minute after the NXPC chain opened, with a total cost of $1.75 million. The floating profit has exceeded $2.4 million, with a return rate of 135%.
In recent years, there have been few blockchain games that have taken off in the market. However, NXPC and its ecosystem MapleStory Universe (the blockchain version of "MapleStory") have brought a wave of rapid growth to the market. This article will briefly sort out the ins and outs of the project for you.
Recreate MapleStory
MapleStory Universe is a virtual world ecosystem based on the super IP of MapleStory. Since its establishment in 2022, NEXON has invested $100 million in the project and led the development process, building the game main body MapleStory N and NFT trading platform on Avalanche C-Chain, with dual tokens (governance token NXPC and in-game token NESO) as the core, NFT and token exchange mechanism and contribution reward mechanism as the main game ecosystem, and launched MapleStory N pre-download on May 8, 2025.
In terms of token economics, the total amount of NXPC is 1 billion, and the halving issuance model is adopted. The initial circulation accounts for 16.9%, 0.4% of the tokens are provided for Upbit airdrops; 0.3% of the tokens are provided for Binance Alpha airdrops; 3% of the tokens are provided for BNB HODLer airdrops; 1.422% are used for community airdrops (including Galxe activities, NXPC competitions, Bug bounties, Kaito voting, etc.). In the game, NXPC can be used to cast equipment NFTs and pay handling fees, and has a certain deflation mechanism.
As a classic MMORPG with over 250 million players worldwide and a total revenue of $5 billion, its huge user base and mature economic system lay the foundation for the chain reform of this game. This type of game naturally has a deeply immersive gameplay framework and a highly complex virtual economic system. Players often continue to invest in character development, equipment accumulation and social relationship building for several years or even decades. This long-term stickiness provides a stable user base and value precipitation scenario for chain reform.
In addition, the common mechanisms of guild collaboration, economic production, and resource competition in MMORPGs are highly compatible with the contribution rewards and token incentive models of blockchain. For example, the tokens obtained by players through participating in dungeon challenges, community governance, or content creation can be converted into universal fuel for the in-game economic system, thereby forming a positive cycle, which is reflected in longer player life cycles and higher in-game economic potential.
Under this strategy, the crypto market is actively buying such opportunities, and Korean giants are also using the crypto market as a new business growth point. According to NEXON's first quarter 2025 financial report, quarterly revenue reached US$775.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 5%, and revenue in the second quarter is expected to drop by about 40%. In this token issuance, the US$3.8 billion market value increase will also be a strong boost to the financial report. On the road of blockchain games, NEXON is taking up the banner of revival again.
