️Bridging Nostalgia and Innovation: How MapleStory Universe Leverages Web3 to Evolve a Classic Game

[Music] uh good afternoon everyone thank you so much for being with us we have an engaging I'm sure interesting session with the uh sangyong um so just a brief introduction of myself my name is Ahmed alwan I am the CEO of hub71 and what we do as at hub71 is we are an ecosystem enabler that supports startups and journey to grow and scale out of uh Abu ghabi uh very excited to be sitting here in front of you today um hello uh I'm sonang and CEO of next Bas limited and uh living uh I'm leading uh also uh Maple stor Universe project uh which is uh based on the uh blockchain technology um uh I started my gaming career as a game producer uh 15 years ago at Nexon uh Nexon is the one of the biggest uh game company also uh most successful online gaming company in the world and it's been almost 30 years so far and uh it is uh listed in Tokyo uh uh stock market exchange exchange market and uh the market cap is around 15 billion dollar us at the moment and it's uh number two number two biggest uh game company in Japan uh following a Nintendo and um uh me and my team uh two years ago uh started this uh maple story Universe project leveraging the power of uh blockchain technology and and standard to make a uh Next Generation gaming service and after a while uh actually earlier this year uh we uh established next bace limited entity here in Abu Dhabi uh UAE um with the uh backing uh $1 million backing of our our model company in nexxon here I'm really uh grateful and and uh excited to share my thought uh in this ad FW conference a fivar chat with uh Mr ammed uh hub71 CEO and also in front of these uh influential audience today thank you so much and actually I'm sure a lot of people here are so curious about maple story because it has been a beloved game for more than two uh decades um uh so um want to ask what inspired you to now reimagine um uh maple story through the lens of web 3 yeah indeed uh Maple I believe Maple uh Nexon has several IPS most successful IP in the world but I believe in maple story this IP is the um uh number one IP that Nexon has um it's been in service uh two decades up until now and um officially it has uh 250 uh million registered user base worldwide all through out its history and also um over5 billion US in its lifetime revenue and it never stops growth uh in terms of uh revenue and the user base uh even now and um we uh and we also uh scale this maple story IP actually maple story IP starts from the pcmm RPG game and we also Beyond PC platform uh we are scaling this uh maple story IP into another platform such as a mobile gaming platform with maple story M and and also a ugc platform with a maple story world and we always been seeking uh opportunity to broaden a whole new group of user into this maple story IP by um uh pioneering a new uh uh platform with a whole new group of uh user base and and um when I uh look uh first meet this uh blockchain technology um I began to see this technolog as a new platform with untapped potential inside see um Maple store has in-game economy inside uh where uh uh player can have their own assets actually inside game only but they can have their own assets and and trade them with uh player uh with this uh play uh they can trade this uh item with a player friendly inside the game market and um if he can uh scale this maple story IP into whole new platform such as uh blockchain ecosystem then we thought uh it will open a whole big door of maple story IP into a whole group of new user uh that was the starting point of uh a project and um uh uh you know um sorry uh yeah uh so um actually we are leveraging this blockchain technolog by uh enabling not only the game user but also this new uh group of uh audience from this uh blockchain ecosystem such as you know a builder creators and uh nft collector defi Enthusiast and even a token investor uh for them to uh enjoy maple story IP in their uh own uh interested way uh that is core of our project so um maple story universe project is designed to turn this Vision into reality uh so um in this universe everyone can uh contribute to the IP and uh benefit accordingly from our uh unique uh nxc protocol which is the core toomics of a maple story Universe uh project fantastic yeah um okay I have a question uh so um we3 is uh reshaping industry globally by enabling decentralization and New Economic models uh from your perspective uh what makes web3 particularly exciting for business in startup and also uh how can Innovation help like Abu dhabi's H 71 support this transformation no thank you so much for this question it's a it's um the digital assets Journey has indeed been unique for Hub 71 obviously in a situation where digital assets historically perhaps was in or crypto was in the news for different reasons uh we decided to double down on our focus on digital assets on the web 3 space back in 2023 this is when we started the conceptualization of what today we call Hub 71 pluses which are specialized ecosystems into to invigorate specific sectors um and we started effectively with digital assets and it was clear to us then that digital assets will disrupt the future of many Industries but perhaps particularly uh fintech uh your ability to transact your ability to do business your ability to create currency is all a novel way um of uh leveraging Financial uh um services and uh so forth um now what we've identified that in order to make that happen it is critical to have a strong regulator and that's why we have been lucky and are grateful to be part of the Abu Dhabi Global Market Market who had crypto regreg since 20 2016 and 2017 um I would say that in a lot there's a lot that would uh you know ascribe digital assets to be very closely knit to uh fintech but I'm actually very um I'm a big believer on different use cases of uh web 3 digital assets um in different sectors and what you're going what you're doing right now is a great Pro proof point of that so I'm very excited to see the refreshed um look of maple U the maple story um so let me um return the favor and ask you a question um so you know as um um um what C can you share your vision of uh how web 3 technology would enhance the maple story Universe player experience I'm very curious actually to learn about this uh yeah um about that uh actually we're focusing one of the uh important Concept in the among the whole the blockchain technology uh is nft and honorship issue actually um while a granting honorship of in-game item to Gamers uh can be a meaningful step however uh I don't think it's going to drastically change the core experience of the gamer cuz um in the traditional mapu service The Gamers already have uh already feel a strong sense of honorship and uh satisfaction while using these item uh if they uh play inside game only which most of the gamers do but on the other hand uh when it comes to the those who uh want to scale their activity with these item outside the game outside the community it will open a whole new level of uh opportunity for them um in the a traditional maple story Service uh we already see a robust so-called derivative ecosystem surrounding the gamers Community uh such as as you all know like uh fanmade art fanmade merchandise and even you know item rental service among them and character growth support even uh whole new application and game uh being made by this maple story IP of course uh without uh our permission though um and and these uh derivative activities uh uh the market size of these derivative activities is almost even Rivals uh with that of official game service it's really astonishing um unfortunately due to intellectual proper restriction and the regulation Gap uh these uh this activity remains informal underground limiting their uh uh uh positive impact and and grow potential that's really sad even for us um so uh by using uh blockchain technolog um you can leverage this uh der derivative ecosystem participant into our uh uh sunlight stage you know we can uh align the incentive by this blockchain technology with them uh with the nft standard um so uh in this universe um all the participant including this uh derivative activities participant will be aligned into one same direction to IP strengthening uh by this our toomics n xpc protocol and and we can uh expect unpr ented variety of contents created by all this participants and and yeah it's going to introduce whole new way whole various way to uh whole new group of audience coming from this uh uh new platform to engage and interact with maple story beyond the gaming yeah um as web3 adoption grows uh what do you see the biggest opportunity and Trav challenges uh for emerging technology to integrate with traditional industry yeah that's always the kind of money question um um I'm trained not to see challenges I only see opportunities um um but the way I see it is that for um um I touched on perhaps a bit earlier but the amount of um um the amount of opportunities that we will have through exploring digital asset solution and with three applications especially on the financial system I would uh say is uh perhaps going to reinvent how we're interacting with the financial system I think one of the things that I've you know um I've come to the conclusion of and I would love you know at some point if we uh audience members um or youyong later on if we engage like what I see blockchain and digital assets to be is basically the financial system summarized since 2009 um if you think about the financial system Evolution from BC era to today all of this happened through blockchain Sol because of blockchain since 20 9 um I think pretty soon you're going to see perhaps already exist but alone to be a click of the a click of a button you'll have identify the lenders you'll identify the uh lendes you'll be able to do kyc checks perhaps if you uh overlay some AI uh you know support to um um you know validate some of the information all of that kind of intersection for me is I see where the real opportunity uh but we'll also be honest it does come with challenges um it's no secret that the digital asset space faced a lot of uh uh stigma um over the past few uh years for different reasons and I think this is where regulation education is Paramount and this is I think what also sets us uh the opportunity for us is to ensure that there are compliant regulations that allow these companies to grow in a scalable way uh to protect those that invest that interact with that engine and those that invest uh um in it and you know I'm thankful because through Hub 71 being able to grow addal assets ecosystem uh with great Partners such as yourself with great Partners such as hash um we've been able to see the fruits of that ecosystem and bringing great companies Great Partners into into Hub 71 um um so you know um I know we go back into game because actually that's one of the rising trends that and opportunities we do see at uh uh hub71 um we have today uh as hub71 on boarded a number of companies that are exploring web 3 uh gaming um so now for you having worked on both traditional and web 3 game uh challenges what unique challenges are and opportunities you see in that domain uh yeah there is actually a big difference between uh Gamers from the traditional space and the uh web stre space uh it's really important uh starting point to uh approach this industry with our uh project I think um in the space Gamers uh primarily uh seek for a uh immersive you know uh deep immersive experience from the play in the virtual world full of uh richual lower in the storytelling in other word uh on the other hand a player from web3 space uh primarily uh seek for a you know tangible connection to the real uh real world and and um focusing on uh delivering uh meaningful and realistic rever from the game so we uh put uh special two features on the on top of the game actually we uh develop redeveloped uh completely the existing maple story PC version from the ground up into a maple story n we so we call it and and there is a uh Dynamic uh reward system and dynamic uh pricing system and these two system uh has uh unique point but it's uh time limiting so uh actually through implementing these two system uh we uh aim to enhance the perceived value of all the in-game items as a Minal viewer to the all the gamers and also uh we aim to uh uh drive a new demand from the outside uh game uh uh economy which is based on the blockchain um so we evolved original map story into this maple story and and it's going to uh be uh uh Next Generation ation gaming experience for the gamer who seeks a fresh experience from the gameplay in the long run yeah um Mr Amed so uh looking ahead how can Abu Dhabi attract support Global Talent and companies working in the intersection of gaming and web 3 technology and it's a great question and realize we're almost out of time so I'll be concise um I would actually for us creating a clear value proposition that goes beyond just um an incentive um for companies to set up here interact with great Partners uh with great initiatives such as abudhabi gaming that exists here um but what's very important for me um Swang Yong is I'll be I'll take a close look at your journey see how it is that uh we can continue to support you and shape that into a reality for the future of web 3 gaming out of Abu Dhabi thank okay okay okay I think then that wraps up our time for today thank you for your attentiveness thank you for uh joining us and hope you got a great time in the ADW yeah thank you so much son [Music]