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More numbers - $1.6 million in virtual asset sales in February 2006 (600,000 items).
Nexon America Expands Mainstream Presence With the Upcoming Launch of Dance
Game, Audition
First-Ever Gift Cards for Virtual Items Available at Target Stores
Nationwide
The New Avatar In Town
of Korea Nexon and others are edging onto Second Life turf, using simplified features
Cyndi Lester, 20, recalls her first meeting with future husband, Frank: My avatar walked past his. He noticed me and typed: I like your hair. After their
real-life wedding last year, Cyndi and Frank bought digital rings and staged a second, virtual-world wedding.
It all happened in MapleStory-a fantastical online game where players hunt cartoon monsters and communicate in text. For Lester, a Huntington (W.Va.)
homemaker who devotes three to six hours a day exploring this two-dimensional universe, the allure of MapleStory is more about show than shoot em-up. She
spends up to $100 a month buying new clothes (at 9 cents to $7 apiece) and hairstyles ($5.70) for her digital double.
Suddenly it looks as if Second Life, that 3D virtual world that last year became a favorite hangout for hard-core techies and trend-watching corporations,
has competition. A new crop of online multiplayer games is coming, targeting a broader audience with simpler navigation and customization than Second Life.
These games also rule out lewd behavior. The companies behind them have a novel way of making money, selling digital goods such as avatars and their outfits.
The games themselves are free.
The mainstreaming of virtual worlds started, as so many consumer-tech stories do, in the Far East. MapleStory, from Korean online game maker Nexon Corp., has
been a hit in Asia since 2003. The company U.S. arm began marketing a North American version last September, riding the virtual-world bandwagon after
Second Life started grabbing headlines. It now has more than 3 million North American players, joining a further 50 million worldwide. Nexon is best known
for KartRider, a three-year-old online go-cart racing game that has been wildly popular in South Korea. A U.S. version is due out later this year. In 2005,
Nexon had worldwide revenues of $230 million, 85% of it from virtual items.
Starting in the fall, Sony Corp. (SNE ) will offer PlayStation Home-a realistic 3D online world where players can buy digital items such as T-shirts and
Sony Brevia TVs-as a free download for its PlayStation 3 videogame console. And Nintendo of America is betting on the free, easy-to-design avatar feature of
its popular Wii console to attract older nongamers.
The rise of the avatars coincides with explosive growth for Massively multiplayer online games in general. The category, which includes technically simple
and nonviolent Casual games as well as more graphically complex shooter games, is expected to produce revenues of $760 million this year in North America
alone, and nearly triple that in four years, says videogame researcher DFC Intelligence.
A SNAP TO OPERATE
The new multiplayer games are tailored for nontechies. Simple images in MapleStory and KartRider do not require sophisticated graphics cards or ultrafast
Internet connections. Avatar details are a snap to customize with drop-down menus for selecting things like Cutie hair pigtails or red rubber boots.
Nexon waited to court American players until Broadband reached critical mass, says John H. Chi, Nexon America Inc. president and CEO. But the company
also needs to broaden its market. KartRider popularity in Korea has been waning-as many as 100,000 Koreans log on at a time today, vs. 200,000 in 2005.
Now the question is, will Americans spend real money in virtual worlds? (Older games rake in subions or down- load fees.) MapleStory was a litmus test
to see if U.S. audiences would have spending patterns similar to Korea, says Min Kim, Nexon America director of game operations. To make it easy, Nexon
Cash cards, which are used to buy digital goods, are being sold at Target (TGT ) stores.
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