Nexon announced on the 13th that it has successfully wrapped up 'MECATHON 2026,' a hackathon event powered by MapleStory. The event was designed to expand the value of the MapleStory IP and breathe new life into the creative ecosystem by scouting for original, fresh worlds. With 150 participants in total, the event took place at the Nexon Pangyo headquarters in two separate sessions: July 3rd to 5th, and July 10th to 12th.

Participants spent time from June undergoing pre-development training, which covered basic education on the MapleStory Worlds AI toolkit, job-specific training, team building, and mentoring. During the event, teams flexed their creative muscles by developing new worlds based on the MapleStory Worlds platform, utilizing MapleStory assets. The judging panel, which included MapleStory Worlds General Director Shin Min-seok and Nexon leadership, evaluated entries based on IP interpretation, scalability, technical polish, and long-term sustainability.

In the first session, which saw participation from university and graduate students, the grand prize went to team 'Haenaet-ssiss' for creating 'Maple Run,' a 2D side-scrolling run game where players defeat monsters via parrying. The top excellence award was claimed by team 'Dajin-parang-beoseot' for their collectible roguelike auto-battler 'Maple Monsters: Re:BIRTH,' while team 'Kkiruk-ilche' took home the excellence award for their multiplayer hide-and-seek game, 'Find the Fake Mapler!'

In the second session, which was open to the general public, the grand prize was awarded to team 'Second Big Bang' for their idol-raising simulation, 'Maple Idol Raising.' The top excellence award went to team 'Gukbap' for their management simulation, 'Monster Bathhouse,' and the excellence award was given to team 'Pongryeol-mangdungi-jip' for their idle RPG, 'Mon.Pa.Ki.'

General Director Shin Min-seok remarked, "The sheer passion shown by the participants in creating such polished worlds in such a short window was truly impressive. I sincerely hope that these newly created worlds will grow to become flagship titles within the MapleStory Worlds ecosystem."

Meanwhile, the worlds developed during this event are available to play right now on MapleStory Worlds, and they will also be submitted to the MapleStory Global Development Contest, which is accepting entries until October 7th. Nexon is committing a total investment of 1.8 billion KRW for this contest, planning to select 30 teams and provide support ranging from approximately 50 million KRW to a maximum of 90 million KRW per team.