MapleStory begins a new tale in Europe

Thursday 12th July/...Nexon Group, a pioneer of interactive entertainment software and the world's leader in massively multiplayer online games , is pleased to announce the launch of its hugely popular and completely free to play online game, MapleStory, across Europe. Originally launching in South Korea in April 2003, the immensely successful MapleStory already boasts over 67 million registered users across Asia and North America.

MapleStory is a unique 2D, side-scrolling, massively multiplayer online role-playing game, featuring charming, hand-drawn graphics and simple, yet impressively deep gameplay mechanics. Players in MapleStory can look forward to facing exciting quests and fearsome - not to mention cute! - monsters as they journey through a colourful and lively world, bursting with the best elements from both popular online RPGs and classic 2D platform games.

Players can enjoy a multitude of different skills, spells and abilities throughout MapleStory, as well as numerous community features, including detailed friends lists, communication through humorous character animations and the facility to form Guilds and adventure parties. On top of this, MapleStory retains a simple, user-friendly interface, making it suitable for gamers of all ages, gender and gaming experience.

While the MapleStory software is completely free to download and play online, players can also customise and personalise their in-game characters through the purchase of costume accessories and player enhancements via a microtransaction system. This involves pre-purchasing 'NEXON cash' that can be exchanged for goods and services at a special cash shop within the game.

NEXON Europe plans to fully support MapleStory Europe's strong and growing fan-base with weekly updates. New game modes, quests, player skills and in-game items are just some of the planned additions, as well as regular in-game events specifically designed to tie in with major European cultural events.

"We are very excited to finally bring the amazing world of MapleStory to Europe," commented Calvin Yoo, Director of International Business Development at NEXON Europe. "Now gamers all over Europe can enjoy MapleStory's delightful visuals, vibrant community and simple, yet truly compelling gameplay. We look forward to making many more exciting MapleStory announcements over the coming months."

MapleStory is currently available to play in five languages across Europe: English, French, German, Spanish and Dutch.

For more details, and to register to play the game itself, visit the official MapleStory Europe website at www.mapleeurope.com.