The developers at the Korean studio Neowiz want to improve the image of the MMORPG Bless Online. In an interview, the developers openly address the issues but still believe in its success.
Bless Online does not have a good standing in the MMORPG market. The Korean version is being discontinued and the Steam version is struggling with declining player numbers and a lot of criticism. Just a few days ago, there was a rollback of the Steam servers.
The developer studio Neowiz has now commented on this situation in an interview with MassivelyOP and expresses confidence in the game.
Neowiz believes in the success of Bless Online
That’s why Neowiz is sticking to the Steam version: With the end of the Korean version of Steam Online and much criticism as well as declining player numbers for the Steam version, many are wondering what the future of the MMO looks like.
- Neowiz wants to focus on developing Bless Online as an MMORPG for as many regions as possible
- The game should be operated for as long as possible
- The developers assume that continuous updates and improvements at launch will create a good product that will attract many players again due to its quality
Neowiz is struggling with its poor image: The Steam version of the MMORPG is heavily criticized, which affects the development team somewhat.
- Many players thought, according to Neowiz, that “Early Access” simply means gaining early access to the game. These players did not expect a “construction site”
- The team should have been clearer in communication and emphasized more that it is an unfinished game
- It will not be easy for the developers to improve the image, but they are working on providing Bless Online with updates that should change the players’ opinions
- According to the team, it was anything but easy to adapt the MMO for the western market. Western gamers play an online game quite differently than Asian players. Neowiz had much to learn here
Console MMO Bless Unleashed is not Bless Online!
Bless Unleashed and Bless Online are different titles: Many players believe that the development of the console MMORPG Bless Unleashed is financed by the revenues from Bless Online and that the new MMO is just a kind of port of the PC game.
- Bless Unleashed has been in development by another team since 2016
- Almost every developer studio has multiple projects in the works
- According to Neowiz, the revenues from Bless Online are not being used for the development of Bless Unleashed. Publisher Bandai Namco provides financial resources for this
Early Access was necessary
That’s why Neowiz opted for an Early Access phase: Bless Online, which had actually already officially launched in Korea and also in Russia, was released here as an Early Access game. This confused some players:
- The development team is aware that many players are confused that an MMORPG, which has already launched in other countries, is being released in Europe and the USA as an Early Access title
- Many systems had to be reworked for the western market
- The developers faced the choice of conducting a Closed Beta with a wipe or starting an Early Access phase where players could keep their progress
- They opted for the Early Access variant. The team believed it would be more interesting for players to be able to continue playing without a wipe
Bless Online is not an old game: Some players consider Bless to be outdated because the MMORPG was announced back in 2011.
- The developers explain that Bless Online launched in Korea in 2016. For an MMORPG, 5 years of development time is not particularly long
- The localization for the western market brought many adjustments to gameplay systems that took a considerable amount of time
- The developers wanted to take their time to offer a market-adapted MMO with different player experiences
How was the interview received?
Overall, the reactions to the interview are positive: In the comments on massivelyop, readers got the impression: Tough questions were asked, and the questions were answered openly – the developers are highly regarded for this.
However, there are also critical voices on reddit. It is said that the development of Bless has apparently been stopped and no new features are coming. Even if Bless were to turn things around now, no one would notice because the first impression of an MMORPG lingers.
