Category Archives: Pop Tag!
[PT!] PopTag! Servers Taken Down For Last Time
It’s all over. The cheerful water balloon fights are all gone. The North American PopTag! servers have been taken offline permanently as of July 14, 2011 as the service has come to an end. I played my last game on Monday. Nexon is compensating PopTag! players quite generously.
While the PopTag! service has closed as of July 14, 2011, Nexon America remains truly grateful to our wonderful community of players. As a thank you all for your support, we are compensating NX items currently in the possession of PopTag! players. Compensation will be given on a sliding scale, based on the date of purchase:
Gachapon Super-Rare items will also be compensated based on the above policy. All compensations will be processed on July 21, 2011.
Additionally, all PopTag! players who created a character before 3/14 and logged into the game between March 14 and June 14, 2011 will have 15,000 Maple Points($15 Value) awarded to their account on July 21, 2011. If you currently have a MapleStory character, you can check your balance in the MapleStory Cash Shop. If you don’t currently have a MapleStory character, you can create one then check the Cash Shop, where your Maple Points will be waiting to give you a head start in your next adventure!
We sincerely hope you’ll enjoy many of our other great Nexon games and continue to be part of our family.
Thank you to the PopTag! community for supporting the game. It’s been a valuable experience as we work to bring even more exciting online games to life in the future.
[PT!] PopTag! is Closing
Another Nexon America game bites the dust. This one I could have seen coming, it’s PopTag!. Launched in North America on January 26, 2010, PopTag! is a casual bomberman-style MMO. PopTag! is known as ‘Crazy Arcade’ in Korea, where it was launched in 2001 as one of the world’s first free-to-play online games and spawned the massively successful ‘Crazy’ series of games, which also includes Crazy Racing Kart Rider, Crazy Shooting Bubble Fighter and Crazy Racing Air Rider.
PopTag! will close on July 14, 2011. Nexon blames “the ability to deliver new content regularly due to the limited resources we had available for the game”, along with other reasons for the closure. I say a low playerbase has a huge factor in their decision as the game has had a noticeably low active playerbase.
PopTag! is the fifth Nexon America game to have its service terminated. When that’s fifth out of just twelve total, it’s not exactly an impressive record. Come on Nexon, I could have told you that PopTag! would be unsuccessful. For a company that I know knows the Western gaming market so well, your decision to take PopTag! over to America instead of finding a hardcore game such as a shooter or action RPG baffles me. PopTag! is an awesome game, but it just doesn’t have the criteria for a successful game in America.
Now if you want a semi-casual game that will be successful, try Kart Rider.
R.I.P. PopTag! January 2010-July 2011
[PT!] PopTag!’s 1st Anniversary is Here
On January 26, 2010, it will be one year since Nexon America launched the casual arcade style action puzzle, PopTag!. PopTag! was one of the first free-to-play games ever seen on Earth when Nexon launched it in Korea in October 2001.
PopTag! has over 50 million players worldwide. PopTag! also hit what was then a world record of 700,000 concurrent users in China. PopTag! is known by many games around the world including Crazy Arcade in Korea, BnB (Bombs and Bubbles) in China and Taiwan, BnB Online in Russia, Boom Online in Vietnam, and previously BnB in Thailand before Thai service was discontinued by AsiaSoft.
PopTag! (Crazy Arcade)’s Korean success spawned the ‘Crazy’ series of games based off of the same characters, Crazy Racing Kart Rider, Crazy Shooting Bubble Fighter and Crazy Racing Air Rider.
In addition to being the 1st anniversary of PopTag!, Nexon’s iTCG Online was also launched in January 2010 and would celebrate its 1st anniversary this month. However, iTCG Online was closed down on June 10, 2010 due to structural changes at nexonova (game’s developer).
[NXNA] DST Change Server Maintenance
Dear Players,
Daylight savings change is happening this weekend, and we will be performing maintenance on Sunday to reflect the changes for all Nexon games.
Game maintenance will last approximately two and a half hours. Remember to move your clocks back (2 AM will become 1 AM).
Thank you for your patience, and we apologize for the inconvenience.
-Time-
Pacific: 1:00 AM PDT – 2:30 AM PST, Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Eastern: 3:00 AM EST – 5:30 AM EST, Sunday, November 7th, 2010
-What-
All Nexon games
Charge NX will be unavailable
-The Nexon Team-
[NX] History Lesson 1: Nexon’s Influence on Gaming
It may be because I work in game development, or maybe it’s because my online gaming career is as old as online gaming itself, but I recognize and appreciate the hard work that Nexon puts into their games all over the world and their influence on online gaming. Despite the belief of many that Nexon 
has had a small influence on gaming, the fact is that the entire online game world would not be where we are today if it weren’t for Nexon, especially not the free-to-play games.
In 1996 Nexon released the world’s first MMORPG, Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, Nexus TK for short and known as Baram in Korea. Yes, the world’s FIRST. As in, there were no MMORPGs before it. Developed by Nexon from 1994 to 1996. Released in Korea in 1996 and in America in 1998. So for all of you who come to me with a long list of things that Nexon has “copied” from other companies, I say to you that every other MMORPG developer “copied” Nexon. Nexus TK is free-to-play with a pay-to-play option with pay-to-play becoming mandatory for leveling above 49. The North America service of the game was being published by Nexon Corp. until Nexon pulled out of North America in 2005, Nexon Corp. changed its name to Kru Interactive, became independent and continued service of Nexus TK to this day. Since then, of course, Nexon has reentered the North American market, but did reclaim publishing rights of Nexus TK in North America. Nexon also released Dark Ages in Korea in 1998 and in North America in 1999.
Shattered Galaxy Screenshot
In 2001, Nexon released the world’s first real-time strategy online game. It is known as Tactical Commanders in Korea and Shattered Galaxy in North America. Once again, yes, I said THE WORLD’S FIRST.
In 2002 the online gaming world would once again be changed forever, when Nexon announced the released of the bomberman-style Crazy Arcade, now known as PopTag! in North America. Crazy Arcade would be released using a new business model. A business model that attracted heaps of controversy
Crazy Arcade Logo
and negativity from the wider gaming community. It’s the free-to-play with microtransactions business model. Crazy Arcade launched in Korea in June 2002 as the world’s first free-to-play online game. The idea of games being free was bashed by the majority of the gaming world until people started seeing the success of Crazy Arcade, and other Nexon games that were being released soon after. Crazy Arcade has a playerbase of over 60 million and is still live today in Korea. The game has recently been released in North America as PopTag! under Nexon America.
In 2003 the world’s first 2D side-scrolling online game, MapleStory was first introduced to the world. Now, the world’s largest 2D adventure game, MapleStory was brought to North America in 2005, after Nexon pulled out of North America, by an English-speaking team at Korea-based Wizet. This English service of MapleStory was named as Global MapleStory in order to service any area of the world that did not already have a localized service of the game.
MapleStory Logo
By Global MapleStory’s official launch, the team changed their name to NXGames and became the North American publishing arm of the Nexon Corp. NXGames did not yet have an office in North America, but instead operated remotely out of Korea. Following jaw-dropping growth of MapleStory in Global markets, having reached 3,000,000 players in less than a year, NXGames changed its name to Nexon America in November 2006 and launched its game portal. In 2007 Nexon America set up an office in North America and Nexon’s North American branch was officially founded in September 2007. Nexon America became North America’s first publisher of free-to-play titles. Currently MapleStory is the world’s most popular side-scrolling game with over 95 million players worldwide.
Okay, what do you think of when I say… “world’s most popular online game”? World of Warcraft? No. Starcraft? Nuh uhh. A game from the Counter-Strike series? Never. RuneScape? lolno. Let me give you the stats.
World of Warcraft: 11.5 million players
Starcraft: 11 million players
Counter-Strike Source: 2.3 million players
Kart Rider: 230 million players
Dungeon Fighter Online (Dungeon & Fighter in Korea): 200 million players
Those games that people call “the most popular” are far from it. Kart Rider and Dungeon Fighter are the world’s two most popular online games.
Kart Rider was released in Korea in June 2004 as the world’s first online racing game. Over 230 million people play Kart Rider worldwide, vast majority of which play through the Chinese servers. With over 30 million players in Korea alone, it is estimated that one third of the Korean population
Current Logo of Kart Rider Korea
have played Kart Rider actively at some point in the past. Kart Rider is the national game of Korea and is the world’s most popular online game. Kart Rider was launch into open beta in North America in 2007, but was never officially launched.
Dungeon Fighter Online, Dungeon & Fighter in Korea, actually wasn’t developed by Nexon, but by Neople, which was, at the time, an independent studio. Nexon published the game which was the world’s first 3D side-scrolling online game.
Dungeon Fighter Logo
It was after Dungeon Fighter’s overwhelming Asian success that Nexon acquired Neople, and Neople became an internal development studio of Nexon Corp. Dungeon Fighter Online has over 200 million players worldwide, with a world record 2 million concurrent users in China. Dungeon Fighter is published in North America by Nexon America since June 2010.
Nexon’s DevCat studio has developed the world’s first physics based action online game, Vindictus, or Mabinogi Heroes in Korea.Vindictus
Vindictus Logo
was released in Korea in January 2010 and already become a force to be reckoned with in the online gaming world. The game is currently in open beta in North America through Nexon America as the one of the most anticipated online games of all time.
Let’s recap, shall we.
The world’s first MMORPG
The world’s first MMORTS
The world’s first free-to-play MMO
The world’s first 2D side-scrolling MMORPG
North America’s first publisher of free-to-play titles
The world’s first online racing game
The world’s first 3D side-scrolling MMORPG
The world’s first physics based action online game
Can you say huge influence on online gaming? I never want to hear anyone say “without Nexon we would be right where we are today” again. If I do, then I’ll direct them here. Next history lesson coming soon.
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