With Elyon, a new MMORPG from Korea is coming to the West in 2021. However, the situation for the game in its home country is currently not looking good. A major server merge was announced for June.
Update June 23: Meanwhile, we have received a statement from Kakao Games regarding the server closures:
At the release of Elyon in Korea, there was a significant influx of players, whose numbers began to decline as the game became established. In response, the recently conducted server merges aimed to increase player density and promote PvP interaction.
Kakao Games to MeinMMO
There should be no impact on the release of Elyon in the West. In fact, all servers are supposed to stay in a single cluster here so that content with queues like dungeons and arenas can work across servers:
The server merges have no effect on our plans for the Western version. After analyzing our CBT1 data, we concluded that we would be able to explore the upper limits of each server instance with our hardware, and we indeed plan to launch with a similar number of servers in EUNA.
Our goal is to have all servers in a single cluster, so that matchmaking-based content (arenas, dungeons, etc.) can be conducted across servers.
Original article from July 21: Elyon is a new MMORPG developed by Bluehole (TERA, PUBG). It focuses on action-packed battles, dungeons, and PvP in an open world, and resembles a mix of TERA and Black Desert.
- At the end of 2020, Elyon officially launched in Korea and entered the gaming charts directly at number 9 (via gamemeca).
- In the following weeks, the game fell to number 16, but managed to hold that position for several months. A small push came from the release of the new class Slayer in January 2021.
- In April and May, however, Elyon fell even further in the charts. In the week of June 9 to 15, it was only in 35th place – behind MMORPGs like Lost Ark (5th place), Aion (8th place), Lineage (11th place), or Black Desert (23rd place).
Now the developers have responded to the declining player numbers and decided to merge some servers. On June 30, the 6 existing servers will be split into 2 completely new servers (via Daum).
What does that mean for us? Currently, there is no indication from the developers that the weak numbers in Korea will have a direct impact on the release in the West. Recently, the second beta for August and preorder packs for Elyon have been announced (via Twitter). The release of Elyon is planned for Q4 2021.
However, experience teaches us that MMOs that perform poorly in Korea often do not thrive here either. We have already contacted the developers for a statement regarding the EU release.
A glimpse of Elyon is provided by the video from MMORPG YouTuber KiraTV:
Bless Online and Astellia failed in Korea, then came to us
What does experience say? The most prominent negative example of failed MMORPGs is Bless Online:
- It was released back in January 2016 in Korea
- In December 2016, it launched in Russia but was reverted to development status after 5 months
- Throughout 2017 and 2018, it was repeatedly mentioned that Bless was not doing well in Korea
- In May 2018, Bless came to Europe
- In its home country, it was shut down in September 2018
- It was discontinued here in September 2019
There were several reasons for its failure, including technical issues, a poor combat system, and promises made for the West that were never fulfilled. Despite the warning signs, there was a hype around Bless just before its release in the West.
The MMORPG Astellia also arrived here only some time after its release in Korea, and shortly thereafter, the servers in Korea were shut down. However, Astellia is still running nearly 2 years after its release, and some Korean players have since migrated to the Western servers. But Astellia was not a huge success.
Is Elyon facing a similar fate? Elyon does not have the gross mistakes that Bless Online had at its release in the West. It is a solid MMORPG for PvP and action fans, as I also noted in an initial hands-on test:
However, Elyon is catching a bad timing for its release. With New World, Lost Ark, Swords of Legends Online, and numerous new expansions for already established MMORPGs, there is much competition for the game in 2021. And since it serves a niche anyway, its success in the West is likely to be limited as well.
Given the developer Bluehole and the publisher Kakao Games, I assume that Elyon will not be discontinued as quickly as Bless was back then.
Without really significant updates that make the MMORPG attractive, I do not expect it to be a big hit. And these updates must first appear in Korea. We at MeinMMO will continue to monitor the development of the game in Korea and also here.
Everything about the new MMORPGs and expansions in 2021 can be found here: 13 reasons why MMORPG fans can look forward to 2021.
