Webzen is a South Korean developer and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

. The company, together with its subsidiaries, also engages in software licensing and related services all over the world.

History

Webzen merged with NHN Games, which was dissolved with the merger on July 7, 2010. Webzen acquired Ymir Games on January 26, 2011 and became the owner of Metin2. The company's line-up of games includes other new titles such as Archlord 2, MU: eX 700 - MU Online's first expansion, Continent of the Ninth (C9): PvP Global Championship and the first of a kind MU World Championship 2011. On July 1, 2012, global service of C9 began. With the release of C9, Webzen announced the C9 and Arctic Combat World Championship will start, where players around the world compete to be the best in the games. The finals were held at G-Star 2012 Expo on November 10, 2012. On December 6, 2012, the global service for Arctic Combat started. The

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

service for Arctic Combat was also included. This service was shut down on September 2, 2013.

Business model

Webzen games are

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

, but uses a

micropayment A micropayment is a financial transaction involving a very small sum of money and usually one that occurs online. A number of micropayment systems were proposed and developed in the mid-to-late 1990s, all of which were ultimately unsuccessful. A s ...

system to generate revenue. Wcoins are the optional

virtual currency Virtual currency, or virtual money, is a digital currency that is typically unregulated, issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used and accepted electronically among the members of a specific virtual community as part of a virtua ...

that is purchased with real life money in order to purchase

virtual goods Virtual goods are non-physical objects and money purchased for use in online communities or online games. Digital goods, on the other hand, may be a broader category including digital books, music, and movies. Virtual goods are intangible by def ...

that are used in Webzen Games.

References

{{Portal, Companies, South Korea Companies established in 2000 Entertainment companies of South Korea Video game companies of South Korea Software companies of South Korea Video game development companies Video game publishers