Netmarble's Anticipated Title 'A3: Steel Alive' Launches Full-Scale Attack on Domestic Market

Aiming for Both Battle Royale Popularity and MMORPG Market Potential
3 Years of Development... Over 120 Developers Involved
"Will Present a New Paradigm for Mobile MMORPG"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] Netmarble's ambitious title, 'A3: Still Alive,' has launched its attack on the domestic market. Netmarble's strategy with this game is to capture both the popularity of the battle royale genre and the market potential of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).

On the 12th, Netmarble officially released A3: Still Alive on the two major application markets, Google Play and Apple App Store. A3: Still Alive attracted attention even before its release as Netmarble's first hybrid genre game. It combines the survival-style battle royale format, where the last person standing wins, with MMORPG elements that allow multiple gamers to participate simultaneously. The game development period was about three years, with around 120 pure development personnel involved. At last year's G-Star, Netmarble Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk praised the game, saying, "Hybrid genre games will become the trend in the future."

A3: Still Alive is significant as a mobile game based on Netmarble's own intellectual property (IP), the PC game 'A3,' which was released in 2002 and gained popularity. Netmarble's previous hits such as 'Lineage 2 Revolution,' 'Blade & Soul Revolution,' 'Marvel Future Fight,' and 'The Seven Deadly Sins' were all developed based on third-party IPs.

Netmarble CEO Kwon Young-sik expressed confidence during a media showcase held in January, stating in his welcoming speech, "This year, we internally declared a strong Netmarble and are opening the new year with A3: Still Alive, developed based on Netmarble's own IP, A3." He added, "As a hybrid genre game combining battle royale and MMORPG with advanced content and gameplay, it will set a new standard for mobile MMORPGs." Netmarble Head of Division Jang Joong-sun said, "Through A3: Still Alive, which overwhelmingly incorporates the strengths of MMORPG and battle royale content, we will present a new paradigm for mobile MMORPGs."

Unlike NCSoft and Nexon, which released 'Lineage 2M' and 'V4' respectively in the second half of last year, Netmarble, which lacked a major title last year, is placing great expectations on A3: Still Alive. Within the gaming industry, as Chinese game companies like Lilith Games' 'AFK Arena' continue to dominate and encroach on the domestic mobile game market, there is growing anticipation that A3: Still Alive will regain the lost leadership. Following the success of Lineage 2M and V4 in the latter half of last year, more than half of the top 10 in domestic Google Play revenue rankings have shifted to Chinese mobile games.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.