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Nexon has started the final closed beta test for SUDDEN ATTACK ZERO POINT, a remaster of the 2005 online FPS Sudden Attack, on Steam. The test runs from July 9 to July 13 and includes 13 primary weapons, over 200 dedicated parts, and 10 unique characters. Players can apply via the Steam store page until July 11.
Nexon announced its booth lineup for Tokyo Game Show 2026, featuring Project RX, a new subculture game from Blue Archive developer IO DIVISION, and Mabinogi Mobile, the cross-play mobile remake of the classic MMORPG. A teaser site is live, with more details to come.
Nexon released the CROWN update for MapleStory on July 2, adding Hyper Burning BEYOND for accelerated leveling, the Challengers World Season 3, and remasters for the Kinesis and Wild Hunter jobs. Further content is scheduled through August.
At NDC26, Nexon designer Lee Gwang-ho presented on how infinite growth systems in Wars of Prasia create stat gaps that destroy group battle dynamics. Instead of narrowing the gap, the team introduced three new approaches: becoming stronger when dedicated, when in numbers, and when in crisis, implemented through a seasonal Succession System with low-barrier utility skills.
At NDC26, Nexon Korea's Oh Se-hyun detailed the Replay open license project, which revives dormant IPs from 20 years ago. The project prioritizes surviving fan communities over old game assets, using AI to lower the cost of code analysis and asset organization. Partners are selected per IP to rebuild a core experience before expanding into a franchise.
At NEXON Developers Conference 26, NEXPACE blockchain lead Ryu Gi-hyeok presented a postmortem of five years building MapleStory Universe, the blockchain ecosystem around MapleStory. He described three walls the project hit after launch: the security risk of asset approvals, the friction of transaction fees, and the cost of vetting external builders on a permissioned chain. The talk centered on whether blockchain's permissionless ideal can coexist with a developer's responsibility to protect users.
At NDC26, Nexon Games engine programmer Kang Jang-hoon presented M1 APT, an automated test tool for The First Descendant. Designed to run continuously on console hardware without external automation tools, it uses a four-pipeline system for pathfinding, combat, mission detection, and crash recovery, prioritizing uninterrupted data collection over perfect reproducibility.
Sim Eun-seop, CEO and lead programmer of Lizard Smoothie, presented a case study at NEXON's NDC26 on how the indie game Shape of Dreams sold 1 million copies within three months of its September 2024 Steam release. The team, two engineers with no art background, focused on gameplay and used a free demo as a primary marketing tool, updating it roughly 70 times over 2 years and 9 months. Data collection tools were built in to track player behavior, leading to key changes like adding WASD controls after a focus group test showed demand, and nerfing early enemy attacks that caused 45-50% death rates in the first stages.
At NDC 26, Nexon detailed its Monolake data platform, which consolidates all game data into a single Snowflake-based lake. The company is now moving to Monolake 2.0, focusing on ontology-driven data that both humans and AI can use, with tools like AI Search and active anomaly detection already in internal testing.
At NEXON Korea's NDC26 conference, NEXON Games engineer Kim Myeong-ji detailed the development of a new TTS model for Blue Archive. The team adopted Style-Bert-VITS2, an open-source Japanese-focused model, to improve emotional expression and naturalness in character voices. The upgrade targets better reproduction of nuances like distress and joy, addressing specific feedback on long vowels and pitch in Japanese lines.
At Nexon Developers Conference 26, Lee Se-hwan of Nexon Korea's Game UX Analysis Team presented a session on the user research analysis platform Insight Finder, which he planned and developed. He discussed how AI can be applied to user research not as mere automation but as a rethinking of standardization, assetization, and access rights. Lee outlined three recurring difficulties in analyzing research results: time constraints, judgment verification, and loss of organizational knowledge.
Nexon's NDC 26, Korea's largest game developer conference, opened June 16 for a three-day run. The 19th edition features 51 sessions centered on AI utilization in game development, with live-streamed panels on planning, production, and live operations at Nexon Korea's headquarters.
NEXON Korea's annual developer conference NDC26 opened on June 16 in Pangyo, South Korea, with a welcome speech by CEO Lee Jung-hoon and a keynote by Co-CEO Kang Dae-hyun. Lee described AI as a "revolution in creation and computation" that gives everyone the same implementation tools, making the key differentiator a developer's insight into what users truly value. Kang's keynote, titled "In an era where implementation becomes easy, what do we compete on?," argued that the competitive edge now lies in what he called "contextual compound interest"-the accumulated understanding and relationships built over time between creators and players. He contrasted this with "simple interest" approaches that fail to carry lessons forward. Kang cited data showing Steam releases grew from about 2,800 in 2015 to roughly 20,000 in 2025, yet only 3% received over 1,000 reviews, and 57% of playtime in 2024 went to games over six years old. He warned that while AI can produce outputs, it cannot create the promises and trust that sustain live games. The conference runs through June 18 with 51 sessions across nine tracks, including a talk from Embark Studios.
Nexon released a demo for its dark fantasy MMORPG 'Embers of the Uncrowned' at the Steam Next Fest on June 15, 2026, alongside a new trailer. The demo is available until June 22. The game focuses on rebuilding a noble family and reclaiming human territories in a dark fantasy world with strategic combat.
NEXON announced on June 12 that a collaboration between its free-to-play looter shooter The First Descendant and the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion will begin on June 18. A trailer released alongside the announcement shows Descendants wearing plug suit-style costumes modeled after Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Shikinami, and Mari Illustrious Makinami. The collaboration is cosmetic, with full-body skins, weapon skins, and social motions expected. NEXON has not yet detailed the sales format or full item list. An upcoming developer livestream on the game's official YouTube channel will introduce collaboration items and events ahead of the June 18 launch, along with June update content. The First Descendant is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam. The game previously collaborated with NieR: Automata and Bayonetta.
Nexon announced the final closed beta test for Sudden Attack Zero Point, a free-to-play remaster of the classic FPS Sudden Attack. The test runs on Steam from July 9 to July 13, 2026, featuring 13 primary weapons, over 200 exclusive parts, 10 characters, and several maps and modes.
The Chinese team Kingzero won the APAC League Cycle 1 finals of The Grand Major Online Series, the global esports tournament for the team shooter The Finals. The tournament, organized by Nexon and Embark Studios, awards points toward the TGM Grand Final 2026 in Stockholm, with a total prize pool of $200,000.
NEXPACE, Nexon's blockchain subsidiary, announced a $10 million (1.6 billion yen) buyback of NXPC tokens for its MapleStory Universe project. The three-month program is framed as ecosystem support, not market intervention. The company cited 850,000 active wallets, first-time user spending exceeding rewards in Q1 2026, and 8.32 million NXPC burned. A content roadmap includes new classes, maps, and a boss, while the long-term vision shifts toward a builder-centric platform with AI-assisted game creation tools.