Maple Story Publisher Reportedly Working On A Game Of Thrones MMO
A return to Westeros.
It’s widely understood that when you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you perish. But thanks to Korean developer and publisher Nexon, engaging in this deadly contest of political maneuvering and wits could also mean finding cool loot and leveling up with friends.
The A Song Of Ice And Fire book series, which has spawned numerous successful spinoffs and two award-winning television series will soon get an MMORPG from the creators behind some of the oldest games in the genre. The game will reportedly take place in the cold, wintery northern regions of Westeros, sometime between seasons four and five of the HBO television show Game Of Thrones, according to Redanian Intelligence.
The site, which also covers other fantasy properties like The Witcher and Lord Of The Rings, claims that the game will feature characters from the beloved television show like Jon Snow and Sam Tarly. Unfortunately, the actors who play them aren’t expected to reprise their roles. The game will have a story-based campaign but will be online. Redanian Intelligence compared the project to Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls Online.
The last time A Song Of Ice And Fire was adapted into a video game was in 2014 with Telltale Games at the helm.
The game is pegged for a 2025 release date at the earliest, according to the report.
It’s unclear if the game is being developed or published by Nexon. As a publisher, the company has had a hand in releasing generation titles, including the ever-popular Maple Story, from fellow South Korean studio Wizet, in 2003. More recently, Nexon helped publish games like the Battlefield: Bad Company-inspired multiplayer shooter The Finals, and is set to release the internally developed third-person looter shooter The First Descendant sometime later this year. Nexon did not immediately respond to comment.
A Game Of Thrones MMO isn’t a strange prospect. However, having that MMO take place between two stellar seasons of the five-year-old television show is odd when the current critically acclaimed spinoff series House Of The Dragon is set 200 years before. The timeline of George R.R. Martin’s seminal fantasy series spans an extensive 15,000 years, which could have given developers plenty of room to get creative with the world.
But as odd as its setting may seem, Nexon’s involvement is somewhat intriguing. The publisher has had its fair share of controversies regarding aggressive in-game monetization practices (the Korea Fair Trade Commission would fine the publisher about $9 million for deceptive microtransactions in January), it also knows how to cultivate a lasting online community. For all of its community’s gripes, Maple Story, a game that predates World Of Warcraft, is still going strong more than two decades after its release.
A game set within the period of the ongoing television spinoff House Of The Dragon may have been a safer bet.
Additionally, the recent trend of games smashing together established literary fantasy worlds with unlikely game genres, like the cozy hobbit-social sim Tales Of The Shrine and the upcoming Dune: Awakening is one we’re all here for. As bleak and violent as Game Of Thrones can be, a multiplayer game that incentivizes social play and coordination could be an inspired choice if it can replicate the often-complex, interpersonal drama of the shows and books.
This unannounced project will not be Game Of Thrones’ first foray into gaming. In 2012, Atlus published a single-player RPG based on the television series. Two years later, Telltale released a single season of an episodic Game Of Thrones video game in their point-and-click narrative adventure style. Plans for a second season were canceled amid Telltale’s financial troubles in the 2010s.
