Morefun Studio Marks 15 Years with New Game Announcements and Strategic Vision

Victor Zhang
Victor Zhang
Morefun Studio 15th anniversary logo with game characters from Under One Person, Mole's World, and Arena Breakout

As AI systems move beyond text and into more complex interactive environments, the gaming industry continues to evolve, pushing boundaries in design and player engagement. In this context, Morefun Studio recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, reflecting on its legacy of classic titles and unveiling ambitious plans for its future portfolio. The anniversary live stream, held on December 3rd, showcased a blend of nostalgic retrospectives and forward-looking announcements, drawing an audience that spanned generations of gamers.

Highlights

The celebration featured updates and launch details for several key titles. Notably, "Under One Person," a highly anticipated game with over 25 million pre-registrations, announced comprehensive upgrades. These include new gameplay mechanics for each character in the PVE mode, more open-level designs in the story mode, and a tripling of overall content compared to previous tests. The PVP mode has also seen continuous refinement, with character balance optimizations and special adjustments for characters like Han Dan. The combat action design for the popular character Xia He was also revealed, emphasizing IP restoration and enhanced skill performance.

Meanwhile, after years of anticipation, "Mole's World: The World" finally received a launch date: March 26th of next year. Developers outlined a future operational policy for the game, emphasizing a player-centric approach: no selling or gacha for spirits, no pay-to-win limitations, and level equalization in PVP battles to ensure fairness. The game will offer various gameplay options, including spirit catching, PVP, and farming, allowing players to engage as they prefer. Other established titles, such as "Naruto Mobile Game" and "One Piece: Grand Line," also provided new information during the event.

Notable Details

However, a significant portion of the anniversary celebration focused on "Arena Breakout" for both PC and mobile platforms. The mobile version introduced a completely revamped map, "Valley: New Order," featuring 90% new resources, several new areas, and new terrains like "River" and "Swamp." For the PC version, a new map named "Airport" was announced, alongside a "Snow Mode" for the existing Northridge map, promising significant tactical shifts for players.

In practice, Morefun Studio has demonstrated strong output across multiple genres, including action, shooting, and RPGs. The updates for "Arena Breakout" underscore the developers' distinct vision for the "search, fight, and extract" gameplay loop. In just three years of operation, the "Arena Breakout" IP has seen remarkable growth, with global registered users expanding from 80 million to over 180 million, and daily active users surpassing 10 million in October of the current year. This sustained competitiveness in a crowded genre highlights the studio's strategic approach.

Under the Hood

Morefun's success with "Arena Breakout" is attributed to its commitment to differentiation and breakthrough innovation. As one of the first games to tackle the "search, fight, and extract" genre on mobile, it maintains unique features that distinguish it from competitors. The game's design prioritizes high immersion and realism, aiming to deliver a high-risk, high-reward experience that generates excitement beyond typical shooting games.

From a structural standpoint, "Arena Breakout" has undergone multiple rounds of optimization to balance ease of learning with realism. For example, while early iterations featured complex damage judgments for different body parts and negative effects from injuries, the current version reduces damage spread and keeps negative impacts within a reasonable range, preserving player enjoyment. Recent enhancements include mobile healing, trajectory and aiming reticles for throwable items, and a mini-map for real-time situational awareness. These changes, while maintaining immersion, minimize negative player feedback, a result of extensive trial and error.

The underlying development philosophy at Morefun emphasizes creating a highly realistic battlefield sandbox where players can engage in diverse roles—sniper, scavenger, or stealth infiltrator. The new airport map for the PC version, for instance, features a circular design with high-value, high-risk inner areas and more relaxed outer zones for resource scavenging. New terrains like the "swamp" in the mobile version introduce slowing debuffs, while the "snow mode" for PC alters visibility, sound, and leaves footprints, significantly increasing tactical diversity and information asymmetry.

For developers, the launch of "Arena Breakout: Infinite" on PC represents a significant breakthrough. Previously, Morefun's expertise was primarily in mobile game development. The PC version quickly garnered an 80% "Very Positive" rating on Steam, demonstrating the studio's expanded capabilities. Interestingly, the PC and mobile versions have served as mutual testing grounds. Concepts like "easy to find, easy to fight, easy to extract," validated on PC, were later integrated into the mobile version. Similarly, the Northridge snow map, initially successful on mobile, is now being introduced to PC. This cross-platform synergy fosters continuous improvement and accumulates valuable development experience for future FPS products.

Future Direction

Morefun's operational philosophy extends beyond FPS titles to all its works. The studio consistently identifies market gaps and creates differentiated niche categories, continuously refining products and pushing boundaries. In the action genre, for example, "Naruto Mobile Game" and "One Piece: Grand Line" continue to perform strongly. "Under One Person" offers a new solution in 3D fighting, emphasizing differentiated character gameplay, fluid action, and strategic combat, positioning it as a leading domestic 3D fighting game.

Looking ahead, the RPG line, which includes the upcoming "Mole's World: The World," showcases Morefun's accumulated technical capabilities over 15 years. The game transforms the classic "Mole's World" into a spirit-filled open-world experience, allowing players to explore diverse ecological maps, capture and cultivate hundreds of spirits, and engage in deep turn-based strategic combat. The project team has meticulously recreated classic scenes and refined beloved spirits, with subtle details that create a living world where spirits are as central as players. The integration of spirit collection with social interaction further enhances replayability.

Morefun's simultaneous advancement across FPS, action, and RPG lines, each with meticulously polished and differentiated gameplay, sets it apart in a market often characterized by risk aversion. The studio's consistent focus on "differentiation" and "breakthrough" is particularly valuable in an industry where basic infrastructure and operational strategies are increasingly standardized. Morefun's new vision—to create games of the era and connect global players—reflects its confidence in leveraging 15 years of accumulation to compete in the next generation of global gaming.