Dungeon Fighter Online
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''Dungeon Fighter Online'', known in South Korea as ''Dungeon & Fighter'', is a multiplayer beat 'em up action role-playing game, developed and published for
personal computers A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...
by Neople, a South Korean subsidiary of
Nexon Nexon Co., Ltd. (formerly ) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher. It develops and publishes titles including ''MapleStory'', ''Crazyracing Kartrider'', ''Sudden Attack'', ''Dungeon & Fighter'', ''The First Descendant'', and ''Bl ...
, and originally published by Hangame in 2005. The game was originally released in South Korea as ''Dungeon & Fighter'', then in Japan as and then published in China by
Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...
. A global version of ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' was released in May 2015. ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' is one of the most-played and highest-grossing video games of all time, with over 850 million players worldwide and over in lifetime revenue as of June 2023. This also makes it one of the highest-grossing entertainment media products of all time.


Gameplay

''Dungeon Fighter Online'' is similar to 2D side-scrolling arcade hack and slash/ beat 'em up games, such as '' Golden Axe'' or '' Double Dragon''. Players traverse 2D screens while fighting hordes of monsters. There are a number of social aspects to ''Dungeon Fighter Online'', including Guilds, PvP Arenas, and Party Play. Skills can be designated upon an upper row of hotkeys, that can be further expanded by the decision of the player, who can choose to manually input the command to perform a certain skill; for example, a Blade Master can choose to press the assigned hotkey for the skill Draw Sword, but can also choose to perform its direct input. Directly inputting the skill (done by pressing the arrow keys in a certain sequence and then pressing the basic skill key) makes the skill cost less MP and lowers the cooldown of the skill (the time needed to wait to use the skill again) by a small amount. Skills are usually performed separately from normal combos, but some skills are "cancellable", meaning that those skills can be used in the middle of normal attacks.


Development

''Dungeon Fighter Online'' was developed by a South Korean company called Neople who previously only published a number of casual online games through their own game portal site. It was originally planned as a small game as the entire game was developed in five months based on the forecasted life expectancy, but the response was better than they expected so the budget was increased and the game was expanded. In terms of genre, ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' was initially planned as a fighting game similar to '' Tekken'' or '' The King of Fighters'' but this idea was scrapped as Neople felt that players wouldn't want to keep playing if there was a gap between them and their opponent's skill level. With this in mind, Neople looked for similar but different genres and ended up using belt-scrolling games such as '' Dynasty Wars'' and '' Cadillacs and Dinosaurs'' as an inspiration for making ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' an RPG. Extensive testing took place before the premiere launch in Korea. Three closed beta periods were held between December 17–31, 2004, February 1–13, 2005, and June 28 – July 11, 2005. Neople accepted only 999 players per test and allowed only one hundred minutes of gameplay per day. Content was fine-tuned and updated daily throughout the test period based on testers feedback. After a short hiatus, open beta commenced on August 10, 2005 at 3 pm. By 11 pm, there were over 15,000 concurrent users. Even though many games being released at the time were 3D, Neople decided to create ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' in 2D because they did not believe it affected gameplay, they did not feel a 3D game could capture the look and feel of the original illustrations of the characters, the ease of casual players getting into the game, and they had more experience with 2D games. Hi-res is not a likely path the game will take because director Yun Jong Kim's main focus is "efficiency".


North American release

Five years after the original release in Korea, Nexon America developed plans for an English version of ''Dungeon Fighter Online''. The title was renamed from ''Dungeon & Fighter'' to ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' because of the awkwardness to say "Dungeon and Fighter". Thousands of applicants were accepted into closed beta, which held for seven days between July 28 – August 3, 2009. Open beta started on September 22. ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' officially launched on June 9, 2010. The North American version of ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' was shut down on June 13, 2013. Neople held an alpha test for a global version of the game in 2014. Beta testing was launched on March 24, 2015. Although a closed beta test for ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' was scheduled for release around March 2015, due to them moving their office to the island of Jeju, located off the south-west coast of South Korea, it became an open beta test because the Facebook page for the game had reached a specific number of "Likes", something that had been previously promised by Neople when it was still planned for a closed beta test. ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' Season 2 was released in January 2016. The game was released on Steam as free-to-play on August 9, offering achievements and paid DLC. ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' Season 3 was released in January 2017, followed by Season 4 in February 2018, and Season 5 in the following year.


Reception

''Dungeon Fighter Online'' had a 300 million registered users celebration in May 2011. By August 2012, the game recorded a peak activity of 3 million concurrent users in China alone. ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' had 25 million monthly active users as of November 2012. It reached a total of 600 million users worldwide by 2018, and exceeded 700 million registered users worldwide by March 2020. The game grossed over $2 billion in revenue as of March 2012. By 2015, it had an annual gross of $1.052 billion. Nexon revealed that ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' grossed a revenue of $8.7 billion in just over 10 years after its 2005 debut, more than the combined box office gross of '' Star Wars'', the biggest film franchise at the time. In 2017, ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' grossed $1.6 billion, making it the year's second highest-grossing PC game (after ''
League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...
'') and third highest-grossing video game (after ''League of Legends'' and '' Honor of Kings''). By the end of 2017, the game had exceeded in worldwide revenue, becoming one of the most-played and highest-grossing video games of all time. By March 2018, ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' was the highest-grossing PC game of the month, above ''League of Legends''. ''Dungeon Fighter''s gross in that month was the third highest ever monthly revenue for a free-to-play game. ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' was the second highest-grossing digital game of 2018 with , and again in 2019 with , bringing its lifetime gross revenue to as of 2019. As of May 2020, ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' has exceeded $15 billion in lifetime gross revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing entertainment media IPs, with its lifetime revenue larger than the box office gross of the '' Star Wars'', '' Harry Potter'' and '' Avengers'' film series. As of December 2021, the original PC version of ''Dungeon Fighter Online'' has grossed over in lifetime gross revenue and exceeded 850 million registered users worldwide.


Notes


References


External links

*
Official website
{{in lang, ko Dungeon & Fighter (video game series) 2005 video games Action role-playing video games Beat 'em ups Hack and slash games Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Nexon franchises Role-playing video games Side-scrolling beat 'em ups Video games developed in South Korea Windows-only games Windows games