Dungeon Fighter Online
Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO), known in South Korea as Dungeon & Fighter (DNF), is a multiplayer beat 'em up action role-playing game, developed and published for personal computers by Neople, a South Korean subsidiary of Nexon, and originally published by Hangame in 2005. The game was originally released in South Korea as "Dungeon & Fighter", then in Japan as and then published in China by Tencent. In 2014, Neople began an alpha test of a global version of "Dungeon Fighter Online" using the last English version hosted by Nexon, which has since ended. "DFO" is one of the  most-played and highest-grossing video games of all time, with over players worldwide and over in lifetime revenue . This also makes it one of the highest-grossing entertainment media products of all time. The game has received Japanese anime and manga adaptations. A spin-off fighting game, "DNF Duel", is being developed by Neople, Arc System Works, and Eighting and is set for release in summer 2022. Gameplay. Dungeon Fighter Online is similar to classic 2D side-scrolling arcade hack and slash/beat 'em up games, such as "Golden Axe" or "Double Dragon". Players traverse 2D screens while fighting  hordes of monsters. There are a number of social aspects to "Dungeon Fighter Online", including Guilds, PvP Arenas, Party Play. Skills can be designated upon an upper row of hotkeys, that can be further expanded by the decision of the player. However, a player can choose to manually input the command to perform a certain skill; for example, a Blade Master can choose to press the assigned hotkey for the skill Draw Sword, but can also choose to perform its direct input. Directly inputting the skill (done by pressing the arrow keys in a certain sequence and then pressing the  basic skill key) makes the skill cost less MP and lowers the cooldown of the skill (the time needed to wait to use the skill again) by a small amount. Skills are usually performed separately from normal combos; however, some skills are "cancellable," meaning that those skills can be used in the middle of normal attacks. Development. "Dungeon Fighter Online" was developed by a South Korean company called Neople who previously only published a number of casual online games through their own game portal site. It was originally planned as a small game as the entire game was developed in  five months based on the forecasted life expectancy. However, the response was better than they expected so the budget was increased and the game was expanded. Extensive testing took place before the premiere launch in Korea. Three closed beta periods were held between December 17–31, 2004, February 1–13, 2005, and June 28 – July 11, 2005. Neople accepted only 999 players per test and allowed only one hundred minutes of gameplay per day. Content was fine-tuned and updated daily throughout the test period based on testers feedback. After a short hiatus, open beta commenced on August 10, 2005 at 3  pm. By 11 pm, there were over 15,000 concurrent users. Even though many games being released at the time were 3D, Neople decided to create "Dungeon Fighter Online" in 2D because they did not believe it affected gameplay, they did not feel a 3D game could capture the look and feel of the original illustrations of the characters, the ease of casual players getting into the game, and they had more experience with 2D games. Hi-res is not a likely path the game will take because director Yun Jong Kim's main focus is "efficiency". North American release. Five  years after the original release in Korea, Nexon America revealed plans for an English version of "Dungeon Fighter Online" at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in late March. The title was renamed from "Dungeon & Fighter" to "Dungeon Fighter Online" because of the awkwardness to say "Dungeon and Fighter". Thousands of applicants were accepted into closed beta, which held for seven days between July 28 – August 3, 2009. Closed beta for an English version of the game ran from July 28, 2009 to August 3, 2009. Early access has begun on September 15, 2009. Open beta started September 22, 2009. Open  beta plans were announced at Penny Arcade Expo 2009. Early access to open beta, available for players who received a beta key, proceeded on September 15, 2009. Open beta began a week later on September 22, 2009. "Dungeon Fighter Online" officially launched on June 9, 2010. It was announced on April 2, 2013, that the North American version of "Dungeon Fighter Online" would be shutting down on June 13, 2013. On May 15, 2014, Neople held an alpha test for a global version of the game. On October 10, 2014, beta testing was announced, set for March 24, 2015. Neople  announced a closed beta test for "Dungeon Fighter Online", scheduled for release around March 2015, due to them moving their office to the island of Jeju, located off the south-west coast of South Korea. However, it became an open beta test because the Facebook page for the game had reached a specific number of "Likes", something that had been previously promised by Neople when it was still planned for a closed beta test. On January 19, 2016, "Dungeon Fighter Online" Season 2 was released. On August 9, 2016, the game was released on Steam as free-to-play, offering  achievements and paid DLC. On January 17, 2017, "Dungeon Fighter Online" Season 3 was released. On February 27, 2018, "Dungeon Fighter Online" Season 4 was released. On February 26, 2019, "Dungeon Fighter Online" Season 5 was released. Reception. "Dungeon Fighter Online" had a 300 million registered users celebration on May 25, 2011. On August 24, 2012, Nexon reported that the game recorded a peak activity of 3 million concurrent users in China alone. "Dungeon Fighter Online" had 25 million monthly active users as of November 2012. It reached a total of 600million users worldwide by 2018, and exceeded registered users  worldwide by March 2020. The game grossed over $2 billion in revenue as of March 2012. As of 2015, it had an annual gross of $1.052 billion. Nexon revealed that "Dungeon Fighter Online" grossed a revenue of $8.7 billion in just over 10 years after its 2005 debut, more than the combined box office gross of "Star Wars", the biggest film franchise at the time. In 2017, "Dungeon Fighter Online" grossed $1.6billion, making it the year's second highest-grossing PC game (after "League of Legends") and third highest-grossing video game (after "League of Legends  and Honor of Kings"). By the end of 2017, the game had exceeded in worldwide revenue, becoming one of the most-played and highest-grossing video games of all time. In March 2018, "Dungeon Fighter Online" was the highest-grossing PC game of the month, above "League of Legends". "Dungeon Fighter"s March 2018 gross was the third highest ever monthly revenue for a free-to-play game. "Dungeon Fighter Online" was the second highest-grossing digital game of 2018 with , and again in 2019 with , bringing its lifetime gross revenue to . , "Dungeon Fighter Online" has exceeded $15 billion in  lifetime gross revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing entertainment media IPs, with its lifetime revenue larger than the box office gross of the "Star Wars", "Harry Potter" and "Avengers" film series. , the original PC version of "Dungeon Fighter Online" has grossed over in lifetime gross revenue and exceeded registered users worldwide. Spin-off games. Project BBQ. In 2018, Nexon announced "Project BBQ", the working title for a 3D "Dungeon Fighter Online" video game. A gameplay video was revealed in December 2018, demonstrating fast 3D action combat. A second trailer for "Project BBQ" was released in December 2020. Section::::"Dungeon  Fighter Mobile". A mobile game version, "Dungeon Fighter Mobile", was launched in South Korea in March 2022. Section::::"DNF Duel". An upcoming fighting game, "DNF Duel", was announced on December 26, 2020, co-developed by Neople, Arc System Works, and Eighting, and published by Nexon. The game is set for release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on June 28, 2022. An open beta for the latter two platforms was hosted from December 17 to December 20, 2021, with a second beta hosted from April 1 to April 4, 2022. Section::::"Overkill". In April 2021, the upcoming "Dungeon Fighter Overkill , also known as Dungeon & Fighter Overkill", was announced. The gameplay uses a 2.5D perspective and runs on the Unreal Engine 4. Other media. Anime. An anime adaption of the game was announced by Gonzo at the Hangame 2008 Summer Festival event on August 24, 2008. Titled as , it is produced by Gonzo and GK Entertainment and directed by Takahiro Ikezoe. The anime premiered on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2009 and ran for 26 episodes. It is loosely based on material from the official webcomic, The Vagrants in Arad (Korean: 아라드의 방랑파티, Japanese: , lit. "The Wandering Party of Arad"), and  features several of the same characters. A Chinese donghua (Chinese animation) directed by Masahiro Hosoda and animated by Dangun Pictures premiered in 2017. A new anime adaptation tittled ""Reversal of Fate S2"" was announced on September 27, 2018. The series is produced by Liden Films, directed by Noriyuki Abe, and is written by Mayori Sekijima and Aoi Akashiro. The series was set to premiere in 2019, but was delayed until its premiere on April 23, 2020. Main voice cast: The first opening theme of the anime, "Party Play" by Sakura Nogawa, and the ending theme by YMCK were used from  episodes 1 to 13. From episodes 14 to 26, by Sakura Nogawa was the opening theme while "LEVEL∞" by Akiko Hasegawa became the ending theme from episodes 14 to 25. Manga. A manga based on the game titled , written and illustrated by Kiku Ueda was announced on April 30, 2009. It premiered on May 30, 2009 in the June issue of Gentosha's Monthly "Comic Birz" magazine.