Author: Pzai, Foresight News
On May 15, NEXON, the Korean game company that released DNF, MapleStory, and KartRider, launched NXPC, with 3% of tokens allocated to BNB HODLers and listed on exchanges including Binance, Bybit, Upbit, and Bithumb. Under the wealth effect, NXPC surged to a high of $3.98 upon opening, with its market value rapidly reaching $4 billion.
Many users who participated in the Alpha airdrop excitedly shared their gains on X, with each user receiving 198 NXPC valued at $575 at current prices, considered the "largest" airdrop since Alpha's launch. On-chain, a smart wallet bought 4.1 million tokens at an average price of $1.36 within one minute of opening, spending $1.75 million and now showing a profit of over $2.4 million, with a 135% return.
In recent years, few chain game projects have soared in the market. NXPC and its ecosystem MapleStory Universe (the chain version of "MapleStory") have brought a rapid new trend to the market. This article will briefly outline the project's background.
Reproducing MapleStory
MapleStory Universe is a virtual world ecosystem built on the super IP of MapleStory. Since its establishment in 2022, NEXON has invested $100 million and led the development, building the game MapleStory N and Non-Fungible Token trading platform on Avalanche C-Chain, with a dual-token system (governance token NXPC and in-game token NESO), Non-Fungible Token and token exchange mechanism, and contribution reward mechanism, launching MapleStory N pre-download on May 8, 2025.
In tokenomics, NXPC has a total supply of 1 billion tokens with a halving issuance model, initial circulating supply of 16.9%, 0.4% tokens for Upbit airdrop, 0.3% tokens for Binance Alpha airdrop, 3% tokens for BNB HODLer airdrop, and 1.422% for community airdrops (including Galxe activities, NXPC competitions, bug bounties, Kaito voting, etc.). In-game, NXPC can be used to mint equipment Non-Fungible Tokens and pay fees, with a certain deflationary mechanism.
As a classic MMORPG with over 250 million cumulative players and $5 billion in total revenue, its massive user base and mature economic system lay the foundation for its chain transformation. Such games naturally have an immersive gameplay framework and highly complex virtual economic system, with players investing in character development, equipment accumulation, and social relationships over years or even decades, providing a stable user base and value accumulation scenario for chain transformation.
Moreover, mechanisms like guild collaboration, economic production, and resource competition in MMORPGs are highly compatible with blockchain's contribution reward and token incentive models—for example, tokens earned by players through dungeon challenges, community governance, or content creation can be converted into the game's economic system's universal fuel, creating a positive cycle and demonstrating longer player lifecycles and higher in-game economic potential.
Under this strategy, the crypto market is actively buying into such opportunities, and Korean giants are viewing the crypto market as a new business growth point. According to NEXON's Q1 2025 financial report, quarterly revenue reached $775.9 million, a 5% year-on-year increase, with Q2 revenue expected to drop by about 40%. The $3.8 billion market value growth in this token issuance will also be a strong support for the financial report. On the path of chain games, NEXON is taking up the banner of revival.
