Netmarble's 'A3: Still Alive' Launching in March... "Aiming for Popularity and Marketability"

Battle Royale and MMORPG Combined... Reborn on Mobile After 17 Years
CEO Kwon Young-sik "Gathering Service Know-how... Establishing as a Hit Game"

Kwon Young-sik, CEO of Netmarble, is delivering a welcome speech at the 'A3: Steel Alive' media showcase held on the morning of the 22nd at Dragon City in Yongsan, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] The new hybrid genre game "A3: Still Alive," highly praised by Bang Jun-hyuk, chairman of Netmarble, has been unveiled. Netmarble's strategy is to capture both the popularity of the battle royale genre and the market potential of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) with this game.

On the 22nd, Netmarble held a media showcase for "A3: Still Alive" and announced that the game will be released on Google Play and the Apple App Store in March. The exact release date is still being finalized, and pre-registrations began on the same day.

"A3: Still Alive" attracted attention even before its release, with game footage revealed for two consecutive years at G-Star 2018 and 2019. What stands out most is that it is Netmarble's first hybrid genre game. "A3: Still Alive" combines the survival-style battle royale format, where the last person standing wins, with MMORPG elements that allow multiple gamers to participate simultaneously. The development period for "A3: Still Alive" was about three years, with around 120 pure development personnel involved.

At last year's G-Star, Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk praised the game, saying, "Hybrid genre games will become the trend in the future." Netmarble's confidence in the game's success is evident as this is their first showcase in one year and three months since "Blade & Soul Revolution" in October 2018.

Netmarble CEO Kwon Young-sik expressed in his welcoming speech, "This year, we internally declared a strong Netmarble and are opening the new year with 'A3: Still Alive,' developed based on Netmarble's own intellectual property (IP), 'A3.'" He added, "As a hybrid genre game combining battle royale and MMORPG with advanced content and gameplay, it will set a new standard for mobile MMORPGs." He also said, "We will concentrate our service know-how to firmly establish this as another hit in the market." Regarding the Chinese distribution license (판호) issue, he was cautious, stating, "Netmarble has high expectations for the Chinese market, so we are preparing to respond quickly if positive signals emerge."

Jang Joong-sun, Netmarble Head of Business Division; Kwon Young-sik, Netmarble CEO; Kwon Min-gwan, IdeaGames CEO; Hong Kwang-min, IdeaGames Head of Development (from left)

"A3: Still Alive" is also significant as a mobile game based on the IP of Netmarble's PC game "A3," which was released in 2002 and gained popularity. Netmarble's previous successful titles such as "Lineage 2 Revolution," "Blade & Soul Revolution," "Marvel Future Fight," and "The Seven Deadly Sins" were developed based on other companies' IPs.

Kwon Min-gwan, CEO of the developer Idea Games, said, "We are presenting a new mobile version of A3 after about 17 years since the original release," and explained, "As a game that pursues extreme competition, we have worked hard to provide players with various experiences such as 30-player battle royale, free PK dark invasions, and the soul companion Soul Link."

Jang Jung-sun, head of Netmarble's business division, explained, "The popular genre domestically and internationally is battle royale, and MMORPG is the genre Netmarble excels at. By combining these two genres, we have achieved both popularity and marketability, strengthening global competitiveness." He added, "Since it overwhelmingly incorporates only the strengths of MMORPG and battle royale content, the vast content as well as the spectacular action and combat fun will offer users a different level of enjoyment," and said, "It will present a new play paradigm where players can experience both growth and competition simultaneously."

Meanwhile, in "A3: Still Alive," players can enjoy five classes: Berserker, Guardian Knight, Mage, Assassin, and Archer. Additionally, a perfect evolution of summoned creatures called the "Mercenary System," featuring attack, defense, and support types, has been applied.