Kim Chang-seop, the domestic director for MapleStory, has been promoted to deputy director of the Maple Division, where he will oversee the entire MapleStory intellectual property (IP). He will continue to serve in his existing role as the domestic director for MapleStory.

The Maple Division is the organization responsible for the development and service of games based on the MapleStory IP. Since February, Kang Dae-hyun, co-CEO of Nexon Korea, has concurrently served as the division's director. In his new role, Deputy Director Kim will assist co-CEO Kang in driving synergy across the entire MapleStory IP.

With this appointment, Deputy Director Kim expands his scope of responsibility to encompass the entire MapleStory IP, including titles such as 'MapleStory M' and 'MapleStory Worlds'.

The weight placed on Deputy Director Kim goes beyond a simple expansion of his title. Since he took the helm of the PC version, the game has successfully rebounded, recovering its PC bang market share to the 20% range through two years of quality-of-life improvements and active user communication.

This appointment can be seen as Nexon's intention to transplant the leadership that drove the revival of the main title across the entire IP.

It remains to be seen whether the model of 'normalization' established by Deputy Director Kim—characterized by transparent, proactive communication—can be successfully applied to the integrated management of the broader IP.

Nexon has been conducting user-friendly marketing initiatives, such as offline events and pop-up stores for 'MapleStory'. Through this organizational restructuring, the company plans to apply its experience in user communication not only to internal game development and operations but also to external IP expansion projects.

The extent to which connectivity between the mobile and spin-off games based on the 'MapleStory' IP is improved, and the stability of live services is maintained, will likely serve as a benchmark for Nexon's overall core IP management strategy moving forward.

A Nexon official stated, "This appointment is a decision to further strengthen the business competitiveness of the entire Maple IP. Together with CEO Kang Dae-hyun, who concurrently serves as the director of the Maple Division, Deputy Director Kim Chang-seop plans to lead the sustainable growth of the Maple IP by prioritizing user trust."