The MMORPG MapleStory is to South Korea what WoW is here. But unlike WoW, there was ‘MapleStory 2’, which even made it to the West and was a hit on Steam. However, in 2025, Nexon will close the last servers for the MMORPG in its home country of South Korea.
Here’s how MapleStory 2 performed on Steam: The MMORPG MapleStory 2 was released in 2016 in South Korea and even made it to the West in October 2018.
The game was released in a free version on Steam and even sparked a hype. In October 2018, the game peaked at 42,467 players. We introduced the ‘largest MMORPG on Steam at the time.’
But the joy did not last long. By February 2019, there were only a maximum of 2,300 people online in MapleStory. Finally, starting from October 2019, the player count settled at a maximum of only 1,000 players. By 2020, it was over and the game withdrew from Steam.
MapleStory is an extremely successful MMORPG in South Korea:
MMORPG MapleStory 2 is now closing in South Korea
What happened in Asia? MapleStory could not meet expectations in Asia either: The Chinese version of MapleStory 2 closed in China in 2022.
Now even in its home country, the lights are going out; MapleStory2 will go offline on May 29, and then there will be no version left (via mmorpg.org).
MapleStory is still a huge hit in South Korea after 22 years
What was the problem? MapleStory 1 from 2003 is still extremely popular more than 20 years after its release.
Apparently, MapleStory 2 could never succeed in replacing its predecessor, even though there were some scandals.
In contrast to MapleStory 1, Part 2 focused on third-person movement and a look reminiscent of Minecraft. Just like MapleStory 1, Part 2 also had a tendency towards microtransactions.
MapleStory 2 was too grindy, too stingy, too greedy for data for the West
Why did the MMORPG fail in the West? German-speaking reviews on Steam criticized that MapleStory 2 grants extensive rights to connect with numerous websites and collect data. This was not compatible with the right to privacy that German users maintain.
Others criticized an extremely low drop rate. You had to invest an immense amount of time to achieve the goals you set for yourself in the MMORPG.
Even players with 1,000 hours in MapleStory 2 found reasons to write a bad review. They were frustrated with developer Nexon and the unfair and frustrating progression system in the game. While there are similar criticisms of MapleStory 1, by then, players have invested so much time into the MMORPG that they cannot walk away.
We reported in May 2024 about a streamer who achieved something great in MapleStory, but then used the hours of his triumph to openly criticize developer Nexon: Twitch streamer explains how he feels after a boss move in the MMORPG: ‘Things are going badly for me.’
