Free-To-Play FPS Combat Arms Recruits One Million

Wed, Oct 22, 2008

On the first of the month, Nexon's Min Kim told AFP that while he didn't expect the company's free-to-play games would have quite the runaway success in the U.S. that they enjoy in South Korea, he expected some "pretty big numbers" regardless.

Today, Nexon has published one of those numbers: 1,000,000. That's the number of users who have registered an account for their free-to-play first-person shooter Combat Arms since its open beta in July.

While the number of registered users for a free-to-play game isn't really a reliable measure of the game's success (I'd much rather have a tally of their active users), Nexon is introducing a host of new content to celebrate, including a new map, new weapons and items, and even a new game mode, Bounty Hunter, that pits one player against all the rest.

Free, game-changing DLC -- now that's worth some praise.

Full press release and obligatory forward-looking quotes await you just after the jump.

LOS ANGELES, October 22, 2008 - Nexon America Inc. (www.nexon.net), a world leader in free-to-play, multiplayer online games, announced today that Combat Arms, its new online multiplayer first-person shooter game, surpassed one million registered users since its open beta launch in July. Combat Arms was commercially launched on October 1 with the addition of the highly anticipated "Black Market," the in-game item shop that allows users to spend real money to further customize their characters. Combat Arms is available free for download at combatarms.nexon.net.

To commemorate this milestone, Nexon will unveil two patches including a new map and game mode that will offer a variety of game play options for users to fully experience the dynamic world of multiplayer online first-person shooters (FPS). The new map, “Waverider,” which is set in a European hilltop town, will be the game’s largest map. Waverider will be complemented by the addition of new weapons, two supply cases, special event gear and a new male mercenary for Halloween.

In addition, Nexon will introduce a new hide-and-seek game mode, “Bounty Hunter,” which has never been introduced to a FPS-genre game. The new mode enables one player to randomly become the “bounty,” who will be the target hunted by other players. The longer the bounty stays alive, the more in-game currency that player will earn.

"Nexon is dedicated to providing an interactive online gaming experience with our high quality games that are easy to pick up and entertaining at every level,” said Min Kim, vice president of marketing for Nexon. "Combat Arms’ successful commercial launch demonstrates the game’s huge mass appeal and validates market demand for great, free-to-play, online experiences.”

Combat Arms features personalized characters, various combat modes, maps, and weapons. In addition, Combat Arms offers a high level of socialization with Web 2.0 community tools for users with buddy lists, integrated clan systems in-game and on the web, and an in-game messenger system. This mix of elements ignites a revolutionary FPS experience: a dynamic, evolving game that encourages both friendly competition and friendship among its players.

"We’ve received overwhelming feedback from Combat Arms players who loved the mix of the fast-action FPS game play and ability to communicate with other players in-game," said Herb Yang, producer of Combat Arms. "People are really embracing the socialization features of Combat Arms, especially the built-in features enabling people to track their personal performance as well as to create and join clans, personalize their clans with items such as emblems, and participate in official clan matches on dedicated servers.”

Since the successful launch of MapleStory in North America, Nexon has been at the forefront of creating a broad roster of high quality multiplayer online games that appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers. The company is also a pioneer of implementing a profitable online microtransactions model in North America with its prepaid game cards being one of the top selling cards in major retail outlets including 7-Eleven and Target.

Combat Arms, FPS, Free, free to play, Herb Yang, Microtransactions, Nexon

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2 Comments For This Post

Amanda S Says:
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:32 am
This is the way things should be, get off what we are on now
MapleStory Says:
April 6th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I wanted to comment and thank the author, good stuff

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