15th Anniversary Long-Running PC Game Leads Retro Trend and Makes a Comeback

Nexon 'Dungeon & Fighter' Reverses Market Share with Major Update
'Sudden Attack' and 'KartRider' Also Maintain Steady Popularity for Over 15 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Nexon's long-running PC games, which have been on the market for over 15 years, are showing signs of resurgence, leading a retro craze despite the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Gametrix, a PC cafe game research firm, Nexon's "Dungeon & Fighter (DNF)," which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, ranked 5th in PC cafe game rankings with a market share of 3.23%. Considering that DNF's market share was in the 2% range in January, this represents a significant comeback in ranking.

DNF, which began service in South Korea in August 2005, is Nexon's flagship PC game with approximately 700 million members worldwide. Notably, after launching in China in 2007, it hit the so-called "jackpot," surpassing a peak concurrent user count of 5 million by the end of June 2014, and recorded a peak concurrent user count of 290,000 in Korea. The resurgence in DNF's popularity is attributed to a large-scale update commemorating its 15th anniversary and anticipation for the upcoming DNF mobile version. Since early this year, Nexon has been expanding the maximum level for each DNF character, which has attracted many dormant users back to the game. Additionally, the anticipation for the DNF mobile version, which is expected to launch first in China as early as next month, is also contributing to the return of gamers. Nexon stated, "Unlike high-spec 3D graphic-based PC games, DNF's advantage is that it can be enjoyed on relatively low-spec PCs, leading to an increase in users playing not only in PC cafes but also at home."

The first-person shooter (FPS) game "Sudden Attack," also celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, holds a market share of 3.34%, ranking among the top PC games. Sudden Attack recently secured new users by utilizing characters from popular webtoons such as "Itaewon Class," and has maintained its position as the top FPS game with records including a peak concurrent user count of 350,000 and 106 consecutive weeks ranked first in PC cafe market share.

Moreover, the mobile game "KartRider Rush Plus," launched last May, has been successful domestically and internationally, leading to a resurgence in users of the PC game "Kart." The Kart intellectual property (IP), released in 2004, is sparking a retro craze, raising expectations for "Kart: Drift," which can be enjoyed simultaneously on PC and consoles. Nexon is currently in the final stages of development for the launch of Kart: Drift. Kim Kwang-taek, head of Nexon's PR office, said, "The secret to our popularity is that over 15 years, we have continuously gathered feedback from gamers and updated the game accordingly, developing it in a better direction."