"The characters were so cute I thought it was a goods shop, not a PC cafe."
On Oct. 17 in the afternoon, "Maple Azit," located in front of Exit 4 of Gangnam Station in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. An exterior decorated with popular Nexon intellectual property (IP) "MapleStory" monsters such as Orange Mushroom, Stone Spirit, and Yeti caught the eyes of passersby. The storefront was built with full-height glass, making the interior clearly visible. Inside, figures of MapleStory characters and a goods shop stood out, followed by a PC zone where people could play games.
Maple Azit is Nexon's first permanent PC cafe, opening on Oct. 18. The space is about 200 pyeong and has a total of 177 seats. In addition to regular seats, it includes a team room (5 seats) where people can play together and a premium room (4 seats) equipped with various gaming devices such as consoles. From Oct. 18 to Nov. 2, Maple Azit will operate on a limited basis during a special opening period through advance reservations. After that, starting Nov. 3, anyone can visit without a reservation. As for fees, members pay 2,000 won per hour and nonmembers pay 3,000 won.
Nexon said it focused on making Maple Azit an appealing space for the general public beyond simply playing games. To that end, unlike most PC cafes that are usually located underground or on higher floors, it chose the first floor in front of Gangnam Station. It also installed a large figure photo zone that greets visitors at the entrance and a goods shop selling keyboards, headsets, keycaps, desk mats, and other items available only on-site for the same reason.
Lee Dong-yeol, Nexon Deputy Minister in charge of planning Maple Azit, said, "We wanted Maple Azit to become an experiential space offering a wide range of experiences overall, so we prepared various content spaces such as the photo zone, goods shop, team room, and premium room."
Game users also had a clear purpose for visiting Maple Azit. The PC seats, outfitted with Samsung Electronics 4K Odyssey OLED G7 monitors, Gigabyte AORUS RTX 5070 Master 12GB graphics cards, and Secretlab gaming chairs, provide a comfortable gaming environment. Here, visitors can also try distinctive food and drinks leveraging the MapleStory IP in collaboration with GS25, such as "If You're a Warrior," Orange Mushroom grapefruit orange ade, and Slime green grape ade.
So why did Nexon, a game company, open a PC cafe itself? Nexon aims to increase offline touchpoints between its game IP and users through the PC cafe. Rather than simply pursuing revenue from PC cafe operations, the attempt is to offer users a special experience. Through Maple Azit, Nexon can deliver an integrated online-offline experience by combining goods, special menus, and photo zones, thereby strengthening IP loyalty. In addition, the synergy between long-running popular IP and new titles is expected to have a positive effect on Nexon's performance.
According to the Tax Statistics Information System (TASIS), as of August, there were 6,983 PC cafes nationwide, down 406 from a year earlier (7,389). Compared with 2019 (11,801), before the direct hit from COVID-19, the figure plunged by about 40%. With the PC cafe industry in a slump, the industry says game companies are seeking differentiation by opening themed PC cafes that leverage their own games.