Nexon, Microsoft Bringing Dungeon Fighter Online To XBLA

Nexon and Microsoft Game Studios announced a publishing agreement to bring Dungeon Fighter Online -- a free-to-play game on PC -- to Xbox Live Arcade some time this year. Since launching in Korea six years ago and in North America last summer, Dungeon Fighter Online has attracted over 200 million registered users around the world, and set a record for concurrent players in Asia when it saw a total of 2.2 million concurrent users in China, Japan, and Korea. Seoul-headquartered developer and now Nexon subsidiary Neople will direct the project, and will have the help of fellow Korean firm Softmax (Magna Carta, War of Genesis) with the downloadable game's production. Microsoft Game Studios wil publish Dungeon Fighter Online on XBLA in all regions. Nexon intends to localize the game -- its first XBLA release -- into English and Chinese, while Microsoft Game Studios will handle its Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian, and French localizations. When asked if the XBLA version will retain the PC edition's free-to-play approach and microtransactions, Nexon America's public relations director Mike Crouch told Gamasutra that the companies did not have any information on the business model to offer yet. "This agreement is a significant step forward for Nexon," said Nexon CEO Min Suh. "For some time we have been seeking opportunities to expand beyond online PC gaming and move into new platforms like Xbox Live Arcade." Suh adds, "With the help of Microsoft Game Studios' deep development and localization experience, we anticipate that Dungeon Fighter Online will bring enjoyment to entirely new audiences on Xbox Live Arcade."