WEBZEN ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF SOUL OF THE ULTIMATE NATION’S FIRST CLOSED BETA TEST
400,000 New Members Choose Dragon Knight as Most Popular Character
Graphics, Battle Zone System, and Music Provide Fresh Excitement
Webzen, Inc. today announced the conclusion of the first closed beta test of Soul of the Ultimate Nation, the innovative action MMORPG, that took place from September 27th to October 3rd.
A record-breaking 432,700 new subscribers signed up by October 3rd, when the first closed beta test with 999 users ended. According to Webzen, Inc., the game’s extraordinary background music and state-of-the-art graphics were given the highest marks.
Users were especially impressed with the fluid character movement and combat scenes reminiscent of console games. The battle zone system that enables individual users to set their own hunting ground, level of difficulty, and participation criteria was rated highly for transcending the existing MMORPG game templates.
From the 7,692 possible characters, the participants for the first closed beta test chose Dragon Knight as their favorite character (30.7%). Berserker (25%) came in second, with Elementalist and Valkyrie close behind. Geographically, Seoul had the highest concentration of users at 22.7%, and Gyeonggi province was the second highest at 20.3%, followed by Busan, Incheon, South Gyeongsang province, Daegu, and North Gyeongsang province. By region, Seoul metropolitan area and Gyeongsang provinces showed the highest concentration.
During the first closed beta test period, over 2,000 posts were made on the tester’s bulletin. It was clear that the anticipated element is the mission map, which is slated to debut in the upcoming open tests.
“I believe the testers’ positive comments reflect the efforts that went into the game,” said Nam-Ju Kim, chief executive officer of Webzen, Inc. “We’re taking all their valuable comments into consideration, and we’ll have an even better version for the second closed beta test starting on the 25th.”
Meanwhile, the starting date of the second closed beta test is now rescheduled for October 25th. According to Webzen, Inc., “the date was moved in order to provide additional content that were not originally planned for the second test, to incorporate various responses and valuable suggestions made during the first phase.”
About Webzen, Inc.
Founded in 2000 and based in Seoul, Korea, Webzen has become a leader in the MMOG market and has developed some of the world’s top online game and client/server technologies. In January of this year, Webzen announced its entry into the U.S. games market with a new subsidiary, Webzen America, based in Los Angeles.
For more information, please contact:
Webzen Inc. PR : [email protected] / 82-2-3498-6836
