MapleStory is a free-to-play MMORPG that has been around for over 20 years. Originally developed by South Korean company Wizet, MapleStory has become a global phenomenon. Players must defeat monsters and level up their characters’ skills and abilities, also having the option to form guilds and team up.
MapleStory is a region-locked game, with many different publishers for varying regions and even different versions of the game. Traditionally, the Korean version is the most quickly updated and receives these updates sooner than in other regions. MapleStory Korea is joined by MapleStory Japan, MapleStory China, MapleStory Taiwan, MapleStory SEA, and MapleStory Global.
Earlier this month, MapleStory Korea received some balancing and gameplay improvements. On top of that, it was announced that on the 22nd of June, a new update would be hitting the Korean test servers. The update will be tested by the Korean fanbase for a month before receiving an official Korean release. After that, it may be a while before it hits servers elsewhere.
The update gives players a new Job, which is essentially an EXP milestone that unlocks new abilities. The game has multiple different classes for players to choose from, and each has its own jobs — making this update quite a sizeable one.
With MapleStory versions and servers being region-locked by IPs, this has given the MapleStory Korea streaming community a golden opportunity.
Most watched games on Twitch, Korean streams only
Looking exclusively at Twitch’s viewership in Korea over the last seven days, MapleStory has taken the top spot, and by a big margin. MapleStory is a hugely popular game in Korea, but when looking over the past 90 days, MapleStory sits at sixth according to Hours Watched.
MapleStory outperforms traditional viewership powerhouses like League of Legends and VALORANT, but also Only Up!, a game which is also currently receiving large amounts of international hype. MapleStory’s huge influx in viewership in Korea especially highlights the importance of the game in Korea.
Also interesting, due to the localised nature of the opportunity for streamers, Peak and Average Channels statistics are actually down on average over the last seven days. Heavily compensating for this downturn, viewership of these diminished channels has skyrocketed. Peak Viewers is up 858% and Viewers per Channel up 960%.
Streamer handongsuk (한동숙) has had the most successful stream of MapleStory so far since the update thanks to the hype. The Korean content creator is one of the biggest streamers on Twitch in Korea, coming within the top 20 of the most-followed Korean streamers with a following of almost 600K. Although he can bring in huge numbers through his own audience, the boost of MapleStory gave him a nice boost.
Most Watched MapleStory Channels in Korea
On the Youtube side, Youtube Gaming streamer chaeneol myeongyehunjang (채널 명예훈장) made it into the top 10 for the last seven days. He saw over an 100% boost to his Average Viewers and made good use of the chance, snapping up 4000 new Followers throughout the week, a 300% improvement from his averages. He has set record after record for a personal best stream in terms of Hours Watched, the current best being 110.2K for a 6 hour stream. This has been good enough to land him the position of second most watched Korean Youtube Gaming streamer for the past week.
Many streamers are definitely doing all they can to make the most out of this. Streamer gimpenggwin_ (김펭귄_) on Twitch made it to the top 20 of most-watched channels, with 51.9K Hours Watched for the last week they have been having very successful streams for their size. Achieved through 30 hours streamed for the last seven days, they have hit an increase of over 400% on Airtime. This pales in comparison to some of the most dedicated smaller streamers who have put in well over 120 hours throughout this week.
Viewership data taken from Youtube and Twitch, combined
MapleStory has had large spikes in the past caused by updates to the game, but this immediate glow-up has been monumental. As seen in the graphic, Peak Channels have recently spiked, but what really stands out is the Peak Viewers figure. This has reached an all-time high, climaxing at 208.2K Peak Viewers on the 10th of June, 2023. This was the Youtube stream by MapleStory_KR announcing the new updates and changes coming this Summer. Since then Peak Viewers has been consistently increased.
This hype wave will surely be a lasting one, as the update is to be officially released on the Korean servers mid-next month. Launch parties and exploring the official update will be irresistible for many streamers and demand will explode. Not to mention when the release starts to land in other Asian regions and eventually globally, we will likely see spikes in viewership in the respective regions around the world.
MapleStory Korea has just hit new highs in Korea and climbed to even the top 30 most streamed games worldwide. With so much momentum behind it and with such a carefully planned release schedule by the workers creating MapleStory, the rise of MapleStory won’t start slowing down any time soon.
