There has been a perception among people in their teens and 20s that massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are highly competitive. But Mabinogi Mobile is an MMORPG that goes beyond competition to encompass social values such as meeting, adventure, and cooperation. Because of that, play is continuing, centered on people in their teens and 20s.
At a joint interview for Nexon's Mabinogi Mobile held on the 20th at KT&G Sangsang Planet in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, Kang Min-cheol, Nexon's Mabinogi Mobile Deputy Minister of business, said this. The joint interview featured Kang and Lee Jin-hoon, the DevCAT Mabinogi Mobile director who developed Mabinogi Mobile. Kang said, "In the recent domestic market, the business model (BM) of MMORPGs that sets high per-capita spending for a very small number of top-tier users has become mainstream," and explained, "Mabinogi Mobile did not follow this inertia of the existing market and presented its own BM model."
Mabinogi Mobile, serviced by Nexon and developed by its subsidiary DevCAT, has continued strong results for an extended period since its launch at the end of March. From launch through the 15th, the game recorded 3.64 million cumulative downloads. Its retention metric, which indicates user stickiness, is at the highest level compared to other Nexon live games. Based on one month after launch, the internally tallied day-1 retention was 61%, and day-14 retention was 42%. In particular, after the large-scale update in September opened a new season, sales rose by more than 200% and user metrics increased by more than 40% compared with the previous three weeks.
This is the opposite of the typical pattern in which an MMORPG gathers many users right after launch and then stabilizes downward. Nexon said the steady success of Mabinogi Mobile stems from focusing on the intellectual property (IP) of the original Mabinogi when developing the game. The goal was not simply to stack high specs for competition, but to create a game of living together centered on cooperation and relationships. In-game lifestyle content such as campfires, part-time jobs, fishing, and gathering is part of that. To avoid excessive competition among users, the difficulty of combat content was designed to be user-friendly. To drive the core fun of an MMORPG, the company chose an optional monetization model rather than mandatory spending for growth.
With this game structure, Mabinogi Mobile has also become an MMORPG enjoyed by multiple generations. Deputy Minister Kang said, "By preserving the value of the original, Mabinogi Mobile presented spending as an option rather than a necessity, with content focused on coexistence and cooperation rather than competition," and added, "As a result, Generation Z, represented by people in their teens and 20s, accounts for 70% of Mabinogi Mobile users, and in many external evaluations it ranked No. 1 among MMORPG titles preferred by Generation Z." Kang continued, "The game's gender metrics are also balanced," adding, "There are generational differences, but the current overall user gender ratio is about 5:5 between men and women."
Nexon announced plans to take Mabinogi Mobile overseas. Deputy Minister Kang said, "Starting next year, we are preparing to expand services and launch Mabinogi Mobile in global regions." The strategy to broaden the generations and the IP will also continue. Director Lee emphasized, "By applying UX and UI that anyone can enjoy, we lowered the entry barrier even for people in their 40s and 50s," and said, "It is designed so that even in short moments of free time, users can naturally engage in cooperative play with others, which could actually appeal to middle-aged and older users."
Lee added, "Mabinogi Mobile is playing a decisive role in expanding the franchise," and said, "We plan to gift the IP to user segments who have not experienced it and expand the Mabinogi universe by linking the worldview with titles such as 'Heroes.'"