Big Delay for Highly Anticipated MMO; NCsoft in Trouble
NCsoft has decided to delay the MMO Throne and Liberty. This is needed because the developers need to have time to make changes after the poorly received beta. This delay is bad news for the publisher, whose financial results are not stunning.
We have bad news for players waiting for Throne and Liberty, the action MMORPG by NCsoft.
- The developers have announced that the release of Throne and Liberty will not take place until 2024. Originally, the debut was planned for this year.
- However, this delay does not apply to the Korean market version, which is still scheduled for release in December 2023.
- The reason for the delay is the desire to make needed changes based on suggestions from the community, obtained during the closed beta. Impressions from it were quite poor, so the developers' decision is not surprising.
- One of the planned changes will take place in the combat system, which is to finally allow for simultaneous movement and attack, which was impossible in the closed beta. In addition, battles are to be faster and the controls during them more responsive.
- In addition, changes to the game's content are planned to reduce repetitive challenges, as well as speed up the pace of character progression.
- Closed tests have been organized only in Asia, but a global beta of this type is also planned. Information about it will be revealed at a later date.
Poor financial results of NCsoft
All this information was revealed at a conference with the media, where NCsoft's financial results were discussed. They are not good.
- In the past quarter, the company's revenues fell by 30% compared to the same period in 2022.
- Interestingly, the publisher's classic PC games in the form of Guild Wars 2, Lineage, Lineage 2, Aion and Blade & Soul combined recorded only a 4 percent drop in revenue. The worst performers are GW2, which earned 29 percent less than in the second quarter of 2022. However, the publisher expects the game to rebound soon with the release of the Secrets of the Obscure expansion, which will debut this month.
- So the publisher's poor performance is not to be blamed for its PC games. Instead, mobile productions, which currently generate most of the publisher's revenue, are responsible. In the past quarter, they earned 37% less than in the corresponding period of 2022.
Investors are particularly worried about rapidly declining revenues from mobile games Lineage W and Lineage 2M, which are financially among the most important productions in the publisher's portfolio. NCsoft is promising changes to these titles to encourage players to return. There are also plans for new mobile titles, such as Blade & Soul S or Project G.
