MapleStory Universe is going chain-agnostic to fulfil its Infinite IP Playground vision

Despite running on its own Avalanche-based Hensys blockchain, Nexon’s web3 arm Nexpace is gearing up to expand its MapleStory Universe into a multi-chain ecosystem.

In order to do so, it’s integrating Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, which will provide the ability to send tokens and messages between blockchains using Chainlink’s oracles combined with its risk management network.

Hence Nexpace hopes to fulfil its vision for MapleStory Universe, which is to create “a living, chain-agnostic platform that expands with its users”.

More specifically, the future will see MapleStory Universe operating on Henesys, which will become an abstracted layer built on top of multiple L1 backends.

But beyond the technical details, what’s important for Nexpace is that this approach will enable MapleStory Universe to evolve as an IP, becoming what it labels an “Infinite IP Playground”.

As Nexpace’s business development lead Oscar Hong explains it, IP such as MapleStory should be more than a complex game experience.

Instead, “NFTs should live in modular, remixable formats”, that are made available in web-based tools, and via community lore-building and other creative spin-offs, which are external to the main game and also the Henesys blockchain. 

“They should be engaged not just by playing but by creating, curating and evolving,” he says. 

The end result is that MapleStory Universe transforms from being a self-contained blockchain game into a chain-agnostic IP platform such as its assets, its gameplay and its players’ identities can become valuable in new forms such as DeFi, SoFi and other emerging ecosystems. 

“We see this transition as the MapleStory identity’s true expansion, a shift from a game you play to a world you live in,” states.

“The Infinite IP Playground is not a product but a direction, and with Chainlink CCIP now integrated, we have the infrastructure to support this vision at scale.”