
Festival celebrating MapleStory to be held in Taipei, LA
South Korean gaming company Nexon announced plans to bring its flagship massively multiplayer online role-playing game MapleStory to fans in Taipei and the US with the upcoming global festival, "Maple Con 2025."
Marking the game's 20th anniversary, the event aims to foster community engagement through interactive programs that allow players to share memories and emotional connections forged through the game.
"Maple Con 2025 Taipei," scheduled for August 2-3 in Taipei, Taiwan, will offer a diverse lineup including an official merchandise store, game-themed installations and photo booths, a merchandise customization experience, a user-driven stage event and a marketplace dedicated to fan-created MapleStory works.
Nexon also announced plans to set a new Guinness World Record by assembling 'the largest human orange mushroom' with over 2,000 participants at the event. This follows a 2017 Taipei event where the company set the record for creating the largest human maple leaf, with 1,558 people forming the shape while wearing red hoodies.
The festival will continue in the US with "Maple Con Los Angeles 2025" slated for late October, featuring a range of attractions celebrating two decades of MapleStory. Additional details are expected to be announced in the coming months.
The inaugural "Maple Con," held in December at Kintex in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, drew roughly 10,000 attendees over three days, highlighting the enduring enthusiasm for the franchise.
With a worldwide user base estimated at 150 million, MapleStory is one of the most popular Korean games. By expanding "Maple Con" internationally, Nexon said it aims to reinforce the brand's presence and further develop the MapleStory IP both domestically and abroad.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Korea Herald
6 days ago
- Korea Herald
CJ ENM launches label dedicated to supporting content by Asian creators
First Light StoryHouse aims to elevate Asian voices and narratives South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM has launched First Light StoryHouse, a new label dedicated to supporting content development by Asian creators. The label falls under CJ ENM's newly unveiled Asian Content Initiative, aimed at elevating Asian voices on the global stage. The initiative is spearheaded by CJ Vice Chair Miky Lee, producer and former Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Janet Yang, and East West Bank Chair and CEO Dominic Ng. The trio will serve as founding partners and jointly guide the label's vision and strategic direction. CJ ENM will oversee operations of the label, with Jerry Kyoungboum Ko, head of the company's global film business, leading its management. According to CJ ENM, the label will strategically back a slate of film and scripted television projects led by Asian creatives. The projects are expected to span diverse genres, themes and cultural perspectives, highlighting the breadth of Asian experiences both in the US and elsewhere. Focusing on early-stage development, First Light StoryHouse will invest in and co-produce select titles with the aim of delivering market-ready projects. Once development is complete, the label plans to collaborate with studios, production companies and streaming platforms to bring the projects to fruition. "Through high-quality film and scripted TV content that showcases the Asian diaspora, the label aims to elevate historically underrepresented perspectives in both Hollywood and the international entertainment industry," a CJ ENM representative said in a press release. "Recent successes from Asian storytellers have shown the potential and authenticity of their stories,' said Miky Lee in a press release. 'Through this effort, we aim to spotlight these voices, believing in the power of storytelling to bridge cultures. Janet Yang and Dominic Ng have long championed this mission, and together, we are committed to empowering these stories on the global stage." The launch of First Light StoryHouse aligns with CJ ENM's ongoing push to expand the global reach of Asian stories, following a string of high-profile international successes. The company distributed Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave," which won Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, and Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite," the first non-English-language film to win Cannes' Palme d'Or and later Best Picture at the 2020 Academy Awards. More recently, "Past Lives," co-distributed and co-financed by CJ ENM and A24, earned nominations for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the 2024 Oscars. CJ ENM continues to expand its global footprint with several upcoming titles, including "Bugonia," an English-language remake of the South Korean cult classic "Save the Green Planet!" directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, and "No Other Choice," a new film from Park Chan-wook featuring Lee Byung-hun and Son Ye-jin.


Korea Herald
6 days ago
- Korea Herald
Cheon Seon-ran's vampire novel ‘The Midnight Shift' set for UK release by Bloomsbury
South Korean novelist Cheon Seon-ran's dark fantasy "The Midnight Shift" is set to be released in the UK next month in a translation by Gene Png, the Korean publisher Safehouse said Tuesday. The English edition is being published by Bloomsbury, the British house best known for the Harry Potter series. Originally published in Korea in 2021 under the title "The Savior Who Comes at Night," the novel follows Su-yeon, a detective numbed by loneliness, as she investigates a string of mysterious deaths at a hospital. At one crime scene, she runs into a mysterious woman, who claims to be a vampire hunter searching for her ex-lover and who is insistent that a vampire is behind the mysterious deaths. Translation rights to the book have been sold to Italy, Brazil and several other countries. Cheon is one of Korea's most popular science fiction and fantasy writers. Her breakout novel "A Thousand Blues" won the Grand Prize at the Korea Science Fiction Awards in 2020 and is headed for the big screen in the US, adapted for film by Warner Bros. Pictures.


Korea Herald
7 days ago
- Korea Herald
'Squid Game,' Park Bo-gum and K-pop: Korea continues to attract tourists with K-content
Government collaborates with Netflix and K-pop creators in its push to reach 30 million visitors by 2027 Clad in the iconic green tracksuit from 'Squid Game,' Ria dashes through South Korean landmarks, pursued by guards in pink jumpsuits. But this isn't a teaser for a new season of the global Netflix sensation — it's a tourism promotion video that has racked up more than 11 million views since its release on July 3. In another campaign leveraging the popularity of 'All of Us Are Dead,' two high school students and Jason, a friend turning into a zombie, take viewers through major tourist attractions, blending the show's zombie survival theme with explorations of scenic spots. The videos are part of a broader strategy that taps into the global appeal of Korean pop culture to attract international visitors. Park Bo-gum, who recently starred in "When Life Gives You Tangerines," appears in three separate tourism videos, including a music video for 'On My Way.' Performed by Park, 'On My Way' is the result of a collaboration between the Korea Tourism Organization, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the K-pop industry. The track was composed by Kenzie, Andrew Choi, No2zcat, JSONG (Oceancave) and Kim Yoohyun. Kenzie, who also wrote the lyrics, is a prolific K-pop producer behind dozens of hits, while Andrew Choi provided vocals as Jinwoo, a member of the fictional idol group Saja Boys in Netflix's "KPop Demon Hunters." Park said that one of his favorite places is the area surrounding Gwanghwamun and Gyeongbokgung. 'But I hope you'll also explore regions outside of Seoul. I'd especially recommend Busan, where I recently filmed 'Good Boy,' he added. He also recommended Seoul's public bike-sharing service, Seoul Bike, officially known as Ddareungi. 'I love riding a Ddareungi along the Han River,' the actor said. 'If you haven't tried it yet, I'd really like to introduce you to it.' This year's campaign also includes two videos promoting Korea's regional charm — one spotlighting the Gyeongsang region and another focused on the Jeolla provinces. The video on Gyeongsang captures the energy and cultural richness of the North and South Gyeongsang provinces through a modern reinterpretation of the traditional sword dance, "geommu." Meanwhile, the video on Jeolla provinces showcases the region's serene natural beauty through "seungmu," a meditative and graceful dance. Both videos are set to a fusion of traditional and modern music. Through these new videos, the campaign aims to showcase the regions' cultural and scenic appeal while highlighting areas still healing from hardship, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. These two regions were the sites of tragic incidents last year: wildfires that lasted for 10 days in South Gyeongsang Province in March and a plane crash in Muan-gun, South Jeolla Province, in December that killed all but two on board. First launched in 2015, South Korea's tourism promotional videos, featuring top celebrities such as BTS, Lee Jung-jae and NewJeans, have drawn increasing global attention, particularly following the breakout success of the "Feel the Rhythm of Korea" series in 2020. The series has since become a cultural phenomenon, with its videos collectively amassing over 240 million views across multiple platforms. BTS also appeared on several 'Feel the Rhythm of Korea' videos in 2022, which reached over 230 million views on YouTube less than three weeks after their release. Last year, South Korea welcomed approximately 16.37 million overseas visitors, a 48.4 percent increase from the previous year and reaching 94 percent of the pre‑COVID‑19 peak of around 17.5 million in 2019, according to the KTO. The country aims to attract 18.5 million overseas visitors this year, up 13 percent from 2024. By 2027, Korea hopes to welcome 30 million international visitors annually by expanding cultural exports and enhancing tourism infrastructure across the country.