Dungeon Fighter Online hits 197,000,000 registered players

No -- that's not a typo in the title. We didn't get attacked by a swarm of ninjas who knocked us out on the "0" button or anything like that. Nexon has announced that Dungeon Fighter Online has hit a worldwide total of 197 million registered players since launching in South Korea in 2005. To put it another way, put a penny in your hand and then imagine 196,999,999 more of them. That's a lot.

The amazing thing is that DFO hasn't technically launched yet in North America, which should push this number far higher. What's a few million between gamers? The 2.5D game -- which is a crossbreed of a side-scroller beat-em-up and an RPG -- has grown by leaps and bounds in the NA beta, as Nexon has adjusted the level curve and added new content in preparation for the June launch.

Nexon had a few other impressive numbers to sling about as well. Up to this point, players have killed more than 1.6 billion monsters, invaded over 25 million dungeons and engaged in PvP arena combat over 28 million times. Does this make DFO one of the world's most populated games? If you want to see the evidence for yourself, head over to DFO's site, sign up for the beta (there's no wipe going from beta to launch) and add to their hefty statistics.

Reader Comments (35)

Fairly accurate i would say, And you should also add all those accounts wasted cause we don't get to live in the us.

I think is about time that you guys at massively start thinking global, contrary to beleief America is not the center of the world.

Most of this number is comprised of Asian account, having little to do with the United states, where the game hasn't officially launched as of yet.

Feel free to be jealous and envious of someone who lives here, especially if you live in a shit hole, but save your nerdrage for a time it makes sense.

It is to we Americans.

Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what your point is. As the article suggests, those numbers come from the korean version of the game.

You are mistaking "197 million", despite whether it means active players or not, as a number that means nothing.

This, at the very least, means they have had 197 million visitors to their site, a very very impressive number. If you look on their site, you will see that Nexon works with retailers to push their cards, and I will bet that they have other tie-ins as well. So while the number might not represent true, unique players, there are more uses for numbers like this. Ask any webmaster.

Also, Blizzard, CCP or any other company does not tell you completely unique user count, they only tell you how many active accounts they have. While someone does have to pay that 15 dollars a month despite how many accounts they have, those numbers are the same example of not telling "the whole story."

Beau

My beef isn't about the composition of the number (ie whether it's website hits, registrations, Pop Tarts consumed, whatever), it's about the number in and of itself.

Anyone can spout a number, and without having to verify their figures they can basically lie through their teeth.

WTB regulation over these sort of misleading bullshit spins, despite an announcement such as this ultimately gleaning more lols than being taken seriously.

True Beau, but it's much worse in the free to play realm. There's going to be a hell of a lot more "dead" accounts as well as a massive amount of bot accounts mixed up in those numbers there. And really, it's those bots that take most of the validity of the claim away.

Well, you have chosen not to believe it, something I cannot help. I would argue that you still have no "proof" with a lot of games that claim sub numbers, as well as the fact that many games do not even put out numbers, yet are seen as successful.

If you do not believe the numbers mean anything to the company, or are misleading and not worthy of announcing, then that is between you and the company.

Remember also that Nexon is not a subscription based game model company, so stating anything else but registered users might be difficult. Many FTP companies (Nexon did years ago last I saw) do post profits, though, which is proof enough.

You make solid points there, Beau, and I can't disagree.
But you're also correct in saying that I'm simply unable to swallow the spin.
=)

At the end of the day it's indeed about the number at the bottom of the P&L, which is even more reason why I despise these thinly veiled attempts at borderline propaganda.

To be fair, Beau, Amana never said it was an argument over free to play numbers versus pay to play numbers. So your point in the argument is heading a little off track there.

Beau, the argument has been put that this number is derived from the total number of people with a Nexon account whereby they are automatically registered with all of their games including this one regardless of whether they have played it or not. Now, if you know enough about Nexon or the game to counter that argument then let's hear it. There is no suggestion, incidentally, that this number derives from the number of people visiting the game's website and that in any event would be a meaningless statistic compared with the number of actual players as well you know.

Do you actually believe that 197m people have knowingly signed up to this game? Do you really? I know you're an ardent supporter of F2P games but do you really believe that figure for registered players in any meaningful sense?

By the same token, whoever at Massively took this announcement at face value ought to do a little investigative journalism and check out whether the claim stacks up. I seriously doubt that it does on any remotely credible basis.

I'm really not a fan of massively passing on these "statistics" without offering any kind of basic analysis.

it's extremely well known at this point that mmo companies inflate and distort virtually any release of information on player numbers, this is no exception.

I have no doubt the number comes from somewhere, but the misrepresentation in this particular case is frustrating.

You're basically sending a sign that they can say whatever they want, and massively will put it up there. no repercussions.

My issue isn't with nexon, it's with massively. What the F are you posting this ridiculousness for?

"You're basically sending a sign that they can say whatever they want, and massively will put it up there. no repercussions."

What exactly are the repercussions then? I see none, except that it obviously annoys you.

Like I said above, they could analyse it, do the math some of the other people in the comments have done, logically think about it, and include that in the post with their press release, instead of being impressed by it and playing it up.

Or they could not post it at all, since it's kind of meaningless without any context or explanation. Are "registered players" real live seperate people? Considering the math I don't think so.

Those kind of repercussions. Say silly stuff, get called on it.

I don't blame justin, or anyone else who posts these press releases but I dislike that there is virtually never any time given to the fact that these press releases are highly suspect the vast majority of the time.

Excatly - something along the lines of :

"We contacted Nexon for clarification on this frankly astounding figure, and to ask them for concurrent player statistics. They declined to elaborate or provide the information requested, but sincerely hoped we were enjoying the muffin basket."

Wait a minute, there was a muffin basket? Nobody told me about this muffin basket!

Dungeon Fighter Online hits 197,000,000 registered players

Reader Comments (35)

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:06AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:38AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:38AM whateveryousay said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:13AM Beau Hindman said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:27AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:42AM whateveryousay said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:50AM Beau Hindman said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:50AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 11:51AM whateveryousay said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 4:16PM Seffrid said

Posted: Apr 7th 2010 9:12PM Bigwig said

Posted: Apr 8th 2010 3:47AM whateveryousay said

Posted: Apr 8th 2010 5:01AM Bigwig said

Posted: Apr 8th 2010 5:44AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Apr 8th 2010 8:13AM Rubi said

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