15-Year-Old 'Dungeon & Fighter' Sees Max-Level Experts Making a Comeback

Update from Highest Level 95 to 100
Dormant Users Flock, PC Bang Occupancy Doubles

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Kim Hojong, a 13-year veteran fan of Nexon's flagship game "Dungeon & Fighter (DNF)," recently started visiting local PC bangs again to enjoy the game he had put down for a while. Having played DNF for such a long time, he had achieved everything he wanted. He had more than 10 characters at max level ("man-lab") and had reached the highest level of 95, which made him somewhat indifferent. The reason he returned to PC bangs is that Nexon recently raised the maximum level to 100. Thanks to this, he now has a new goal of reaching level 100.

According to GameTriks, a PC bang game research firm, as of the 22nd, DNF ranked 7th in PC bang game rankings with a market share of 2.53%. Released in Korea in August 2005, DNF is now in its 15th year since launch, and its market share has surged sharply after the recent increase in the character max level.

Earlier, on the 9th, Nexon implemented an update that expanded DNF's max level to 100. This update added new game areas (dungeons) such as "Gent Imperial Palace" and "Land of Memories."

After Nexon expanded DNF's max level, many dormant users who had left the game started returning in large numbers. During the first weekend after the update, PC bang market share more than doubled, pushing the game up to 7th place in PC bang rankings, and the playtime of DNF in PC bangs also more than doubled. As top-tier DNF players flooded in quickly, the number of characters reaching the new max level of 100 during the first weekend after the update reached approximately 500,000.

Nexon stated, "This max level update applies to one of the main game characters, the Female Slayer, and the response has been very positive," adding, "We plan to expand updates by sequentially raising the max levels of other characters in the future."