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Chinese mobile games publisher Shanda Games is enjoying remarkable success from an unlikely source.
The Legend of Mir Mobile is a port of 15 year-old Korean MMO The Legend of Mir 2. Tech In Asia reports that vice chair Zhu Xiaojing has said that the game is earning currently between $92m and $107m every month. On its best day so far it raked in $7m.
The company now has plans to grow the Mir IP with video content, with talk of a movie possibly being in the works.
The PC original was a big Chinese hit back in the day, typically racking up 250k concurrent players in the period between 2002 and 2003 – and that was at a time when only around five per cent of the country’s populace had online access.
The site speculates that the game’s newfound success largely stems from nostalgia. Those who used to play the game in China’s internet cafes in their youth can now play it during breaks at work. Plus, its popularity has opened the title up to a whole new audience.
There’s also the fact that the game has, throughout its lifetime, been continually updated. Chinese players aren’t afraid to stick with old titles – its most popular FPS is the ten year-old CrossFire.
