To start, could you introduce yourself for readers who may not know much about Inkwell yet? You have a very long history with MapleStory.

Of course. I’m Hanbyeol Oh, CPO (Chief Product Officer) at Nexon America, and currently the head of Global MapleStory. 

MapleStory has been a major part of my career from the very beginning. 

I first worked on MapleStory development at Nexon Korea and later served as the Director of MapleStory in Korea. I believe I was effectively part of the last generation of Wizet Studio. 

After that, my responsibilities expanded, and I later took on an Executive Producer role overseeing MapleStory across international markets. 

So for me, MapleStory is not simply a game I happened to work on for a period of time, it has been a very large part of my career. I experienced the game not only as it was being built and growing, but also as it evolved through the challenges that come with operating a live service over many years. 

That said, I think this is probably the extent of what most players know about my background. 

In reality, the experiences I gained outside Korea over the last decade-plus have had an equally significant influence on who I am today. 

You later moved to the United States. What kind of work were you doing during that period?

After moving to the U.S., I spent a number of years away from MapleStory, taking on new responsibilities and working on projects that couldn’t be more different. 

At the time, I served as VP of Production, leading Nexon’s Western game production efforts, and I was involved across the production and development management of several new game projects aimed at international markets. 

It was a very transformative period for me personally. 

I had spent a long time working within the MapleStory franchise, and suddenly I had the opportunity to work with a number of new game studios, each building very different kinds of games with their own genres, development cultures, and production methodologies. 

That experience broadened both the way I look at games and the standards I apply to production.

Wasn’t one of those companies Embark Studios?

Yes. I worked very closely with Embark Studios in a collaborative capacity for about five years. 

I was there through the development of THE FINALS and ARC Raiders from very early stages, and we worked together to establish development milestones and move the games through production. 

It was a very special experience for me. 

Embark Studios is full of exceptionally talented people, and they set the quality bar extremely high. 

I had the opportunity to see firsthand how much thought, iteration, collaboration, and discipline it takes to turn an idea into a highly polished global game. 

THE FINALS and ARC Raiders have both gone on to become widely recognized projects in the global market, and being able to participate from the very beginning of those journeys gave me the opportunity to learn a tremendous amount. 

I learned a great deal about AAA production processes and quality, of course, but just as importantly, it helped me better understand what players across different markets expect from games, and what it takes to build and deliver a product for a global audience. 

That experience continues to influence how I think about Global MapleStory today.

You returned to MapleStory around the time THE FINALS launched. What led to that decision?

I thought about it quite a bit. (laughs) 

By that point, I had already spent many years working on projects outside MapleStory, and personally, I was really enjoying the experience of working on new kinds of games. 

ARC Raiders had also gone through several major iterations and had finally moved toward the direction that eventually became the game people know today. At the time, the team was fully engaged in refining the game and raising its level of polish. 

Then I heard that the company was preparing a new vision for MapleStory, particularly with a renewed focus on international markets, and I was asked whether I would consider taking responsibility for Global MapleStory again from the U.S., where I am based. 

At first, I asked myself: 

“Is going back to MapleStory the right decision for me? And what would it mean to me at this point in my career?”

It was not an easy decision after spending so long working on other projects. 

But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that MapleStory is still one of Nexon’s most important IPs, and that there was still a great deal of unrealized growth potential in the global market. 

More than anything, I also found that my personal affection for MapleStory, a project I had been away from for so long, was beginning to come back strongly. 

Looking back, I think that emotional reason may have been the biggest factor. 

MapleStory also has an incredibly dedicated fan base that has cared about the game for many years. 

I began to feel that, together with those players, Global MapleStory could do more than simply maintain what already existed. It could take another meaningful step forward. 

And I found myself thinking: 

“At this point in my career, perhaps there is something I can do for the people who may love this game even more than I do.”

If I could bring the experiences I had gained outside MapleStory back into a game I deeply care about, I felt that would be meaningful to me as well. 

That is why I decided to return.

At GDC (Game Developers Conference) 2024, you spoke publicly about Hyper-localization for Global MapleStory. Did you already have a broader vision in mind at that point?

Yes. At the time, we were not yet able to publicly discuss every initiative we were working on, but the broader direction was already becoming quite clear. 

What I wanted to communicate at GDC  2024 was not simply, “We should localize Global MapleStory better.” 

I was thinking about something more fundamental: 

What kind of service does Global MapleStory need to be if we want it to continue growing over the long term?

And how do we reflect the expectations and play patterns of players in different markets directly in the product itself? 

That was why I began placing greater importance on the idea of Hyper-localization, beyond the traditional localization model. 

Rather than simply taking the original source and operating it effectively in another region, I believed we needed to understand the players in the markets we directly serve at a much deeper level and, where necessary, reflect those differences in the game mechanics and service structures themselves. 

Looking back, many of the initiatives we are working on today illustrate the process of turning the direction I spoke about then into actual products and services.

When you returned, what did you feel needed to change first?

We first needed to build an organization and production structure capable of operating and evolving Global MapleStory sustainably over the long term. 

That’s why I have spent a significant amount of time over the past two to three years on team building. 

Those earlier experiences working with Embark Studios helped me understand what kind of organization we needed, which roles were missing, how different disciplines should collaborate, and how to prioritize within limited resources. 

There were so many things we wanted to do. 

We wanted to build new systems, create new content, revisit and improve older content, improve communication, support new platforms, and expand language support. 

But once you begin doing the work, time and resources are always limited. 

Even so, we have continued trying to make as many meaningful changes as possible with the resources we have.

How does Hyper-localization actually work in practice?

Traditional localization usually means taking a primary source material, translating it, and making some adjustments for a particular region. 

That is important. 

But I believe Global MapleStory needs to go one step further if it is going to grow over the long term. 

We need to understand how players in the markets we serve play the game in their own unique ways, what they value, where they feel friction, and then reflect that understanding directly into game mechanics and service decisions. 

That is what Hyper-localization means to us. 

If I had to describe it in one sentence, I would say: 

“It’s moving from adapting one original product for different regions to understanding players in each region and building a Global MapleStory experience that is better suited to them.” 

And our goal is not limited to any one specific market. 

Over time, we want to deepen our understanding of the many different regions and cultures within the Global service and provide experiences that are better suited to the players in each of them. 

Rather than assuming that one answer developed for one market should automatically apply everywhere else, we want to respect the differences between regions while still creating a cohesive MapleStory experience that can satisfy a broader range of players. 

Through that process, one of our key missions is to create the foundation for MapleStory to continue expanding into new regions and new player communities, and to grow as a global franchise over the long term.

Do you feel those changes have been working?

Since we began introducing the Hyper-localization approach, Global MapleStory has continued to grow in both its player base and the overall scale of the service, reaching new highs year after year. 

At the same time, there is still a tremendous amount of work to do, so I would not want to say, “We have already succeeded.” 

If anything, I think we still have a long way to go. 

I am also very aware that we are still far from fully meeting the expectations our players have for MapleStory and for our team. 

But I do think we are seeing clear signs that the direction itself is working. 

About three years ago, if you looked at the online community, there was a great deal of pessimism about the future of Global MapleStory. 

There were even fairly regular discussions asking when Global MapleStory might shut down. 

I was honestly a little surprised when I first saw those conversations. 

But once I began looking more closely at the community, I realized those kinds of posts were not uncommon at all. 

Today, there are still plenty of debates and criticism around updates, balance, and operations. That is natural for a live service game, and in many ways, I think it is healthy. 

But the kind of doom sentiment that suggested, “This game may disappear soon,” has decreased substantially compared with the past. In fact, it is now quite rare to see that kind of discussion at all. 

That may seem like a small change, but I think it’s meaningful. 

The conversation has increasingly shifted from whether the game will continue to how the game can become better. 

In that sense, I think the direction we have pursued over the past few years has begun to produce meaningful results.

And how did those results influence the development of Classic World?

As I thought about how Global MapleStory could take another meaningful step forward, I began looking at the service from a broader perspective, and one issue became increasingly clear to me. 

MapleStory has been operating for more than 20 years, and in that time it has accumulated an enormous amount of content and systems. 

For players who have stayed with the game for a long time, that creates tremendous depth. 

But the situation is very different for someone who played MapleStory 10 or 15 years ago and is thinking about coming back. 

We heard comments like: 

“I want to come back, but the game looks so complicated now that I do not even know where to start.” 

And even when returning players did come back, it was not uncommon for them to struggle with the number of systems and mechanics and leave again relatively quickly. 

I also felt that the same complexity could make it difficult for completely new players to understand the game and find a comfortable way into MapleStory for the first time. 

We will, of course, continue working to make the current Global MapleStory experience more accessible to both new and returning players. But at the same time, I felt there was room for another entry point into the MapleStory universe — one built around a simpler and more approachable experience from the ground up. 

At the same time, we continued to hear strong demand for the simpler experience of early MapleStory. 

That led me to a question: 

“Could we create another pathway into MapleStory?” 

The idea was not to simplify the current Global MapleStory experience. 

Rather, I wanted to create another way to experience MapleStory — something with a lower initial barrier, where returning players could reconnect with the game more naturally and new players could also find it easier to discover what makes MapleStory special. 

That was the fundamental starting point of Classic World for me. 

And at the same time, I believed that if Classic World could bring a new group of players into the MapleStory ecosystem, it could create a foundation for Global MapleStory itself to grow alongside it. 

From that point onward, of course, it became something we had to build as a team.

Some players believe that if something is called “Classic,” it should recreate the old MapleStory exactly as it was. Is that the direction of Classic World?

Our thought process is a little different for Classic World. 

Our goal is not to recreate MapleStory from 20 years ago on a one-to-one basis. 

Classic World includes not only me, but also Nemi, who was deeply involved in the original MapleStory game design, and Dr. Lim, who had led MapleStory’s art direction since before the Big Bang era, along with other people who were directly involved in early MapleStory and understand the game extremely well. 

At the very beginning of the project, Nemi and I worked together to establish the fundamental direction and structure, and over time, veterans who had worked on MapleStory in the past began returning to participate in the project as well. 

Because of that, one of the questions we find ourselves asking more often is: 

"If we had the opportunity to make Classic World back then, knowing everything we know now, what would we have done differently?" 

We want to preserve the emotion and core experience of early MapleStory. 

But there were also things we could not do at the time because of technical limitations or development schedules, as well as stories and systems that we never had the opportunity to fully develop. 

We want to continue those ideas in Classic World. 

So rather than simply reproducing the past, I think of it more as continuing and evolving the possibilities that early MapleStory originally had.

Do you see Global MapleStory and Classic World competing with each other?

I think Global MapleStory and Classic World are designed around very different kinds of experiences and play styles. 

The current Global MapleStory experience offers deep character progression, sophisticated systems, a wide range of content, and a strong emphasis on the satisfaction of combat and continued character growth. 

For players who enjoy the excitement of combat, faster progression, deep character growth, and the breadth and sophistication of modern game systems, the current Global MapleStory experience may be a better fit. 

Classic World, on the other hand, is intended to offer a more relaxed and social experience, with a greater emphasis on enjoying the world and the people around you at your own pace.

We want it to be a place where talking with friends, making steady progress, or simply spending time in town can all feel like meaningful parts of the gameplay experience.

In that sense, I sometimes think of Classic World as a kind of comfortable place to rest within MapleStory. 

The goal is to design Global MapleStory and Classic World to complement one another—not compete with or cannibalize each other.

Ultimately, we want to welcome players with different tastes and play styles into MapleStory and expand the overall Global MapleStory audience together. 

Global MapleStory

A deeper, evolving experience.

Classic World

A fresh beginning with a modern approach.