On March 12, 2024, the MMORPG Night Crows celebrated an extremely successful global release. In addition to Unreal Engine 5 graphics and the promise of massive battles, unfortunately, there are also various “buts.”
How successful was Night Crows at launch? The MMORPG from Wemade has been released in 170 markets since March 12, 2024, for PC and mobile devices. The influx of players was so high that the number of servers had to be increased from 24 to 54.
Supporting the hype were more than 600 streamers. Within the first three days, Night Crows was able to generate over ten million US dollars in revenue. This makes Night Crows the most successful game launch in Wemade’s history.
The free-to-play MMORPG MIR4 only achieved a fraction of the revenue in 2021.
Night Crows showcases the muscles of Unreal Engine 5 in the trailers:
MMORPG promises large PVP battles and fights against PvE bosses
How does Night Crows justify the hype? At first glance, Night Crows appears, thanks to Unreal Engine 5, to be a technically elaborate MMORPG that promises ambitious features like fortress battles with up to 1,000 players.
Moreover, you can expect PvE fights against bosses, an action-packed combat system, climbing and gliding, as well as a selection of eight different subclasses such as Warrior with a two-handed sword, Warrior with a one-handed sword and shield, Hunter with a bow, Hunter with daggers, and so on.
What are the mentioned “buts”? One sticking point has already been mentioned: Night Crows is not only available for powerful PCs but also for Android and iOS devices. This automatically affects the technology, UI, and playability.
Even more challenging is the payment model of the MMORPG. You can expect not only an in-game store with microtransactions but also a blockchain economy where you can purchase characters as NFTs or items in token form, for example.
There are also various other issues. Players criticize the faulty state of the game, the tedious XP grind, the boring quest design, pay-to-win elements, and the lackluster combat feel in the app stores.
Even Wemade’s last MMORPG, Mir4, was extremely successful on Steam but also implemented a controversial “pay-to-earn” mechanic, through which players could earn a cryptocurrency by grinding. However, such cryptocurrencies are often subject to extreme value fluctuations. Mir4 is also an MMORPG that subsequently suffered chronically from bots.
One can only hope that the enormous success of Night Crows does not trigger a new wave of generic multiplatform blockchain MMORPGs. The author of these lines can easily do without such genre representatives. What do you think?
By the way: In Korea, Night Crows took off last year like a well-oiled NFT machine
