Lineage 2M resulted in a record quarter for the Korean game company NCSoft. The title alone earned almost three times as much as all PC games combined. Now the mobile MMORPG is also set to come to us.
What is Lineage 2M? The new mobile MMORPG from NCSoft was released in November 2019. The developers had high hopes for the game and even skipped their appearance at G-Star 2019, the largest gaming convention in Korea.
The game is aimed at fans of the Lineage series, practically the WoW of South Korea, and has received some interesting features:
- A “full 3D graphics” with 4k resolution
- It completely forgoes loading screens in the game
- The mobile MMORPG offers 5 pre-made characters with 6 different classes, which in turn divide into over 100 subclasses.
- The game features world bosses and a guild system.
- However, it does not include a character editor, as the first gameplay showed.
However, the special feature was the release together with the in-house platform “Purple”. This serves as an emulator for Lineage 2M, so it can also be played directly on PC.
And NCSoft’s plan seems to have worked out.
The best quarter of all time – thanks to Lineage 2M
How did the quarter go for NCSoft? The developer from Korea achieved a record revenue of 731.1 billion won (approximately 551.7 million euros) in the first quarter of 2020, for the period from January 1 to March 31.
Compared to the previous quarter, revenue increased by 37% and even doubled compared to the first quarter of 2019.
Of this revenue, 341.1 billion won and thus around 46.7% came from Lineage 2M.
- This is similarly successful as the release of Lineage M, which marked the strong focus on mobile MMORPGs at NCSoft.
- The revenue from all PC games, including Lineage 1 and 2, Aion, and Guild Wars 2, decreased by 2.7% and raised “only” 113.5 billion won. Thus, the mobile MMORPG alone earned almost three times as much.
Release for the West planned: According to The Investor website, NCSoft is now focusing on releasing the game internationally due to the success of Lineage 2M.
Lineage 2M is officially set to be brought “overseas”. From a South Korean perspective, this will likely mean primarily America and Europe.
However, it is unclear whether the Purple platform, which makes the mobile MMORPG playable on PC, will also come to us.
Another mobile MMORPG is coming – at first only in Korea
What else has NCSoft announced? Besides Lineage 2M, there was also talk of Blade and Soul 2. While it is a sequel to the MMORPG Blade & Soul, which was also released in our region, the new title is set to be launched as a mobile game.
The release of Blade and Soul 2 is planned for 2020 in Korea. Whether the game will also come to us is currently unknown.
Additionally, the Korean developer briefly talked about Project TL, the new MMORPG for PC and consoles. Initial tests are planned soon, but a 2020 release has been ruled out.
