Amazon intends to release the South Korean MMORPG Throne and Liberty on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X in 2024. However, it seems there are difficulties between Amazon and NCSoft, causing an “early release in 2024” to be uncertain.
What is the status of the release of Throne and Liberty?
- The MMORPG was released on December 7, 2023, in South Korea for PC.
- It was originally set to release in 2024 in Europe simultaneously for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X – likely on Steam. Fans hoped that since the MMORPG had already launched in South Korea, a worldwide release could happen relatively early in 2024.
- However, reports from South Korea indicate that things are not going as smoothly as anticipated and hoped.
Release on PS5 and Xbox Series X likely a problem
What kind of problems exist? In South Korea, the site Sisajournal raised alarm in an article on January 23. A reporter sees several issues that jeopardize an originally planned launch for the second quarter in Europe and the USA. Currently, there is no timeline for the worldwide release, it is said.
According to information from the site, it was planned that Amazon would be responsible for developing the console versions. The console versions are deemed “essential for the western market” because PS5 and Xbox Series X are more important than the PC market here.
The difficulties are evident as Throne and Liberty is not yet listed in the PS Store as one of the upcoming games, and no pre-order page has appeared yet.
For NCSoft, a port to PlayStation 5 is still uncharted territory; they originally wanted to bring the MMORPG “Lineage W” to the PS5 but have not managed to do so in 2 years.
Success falls short of expectations and much competition on consoles
What difficulties are being faced? Allegedly, there are disagreements between NCSoft and Amazon. Amazon is demanding that NCSoft resolve issues before proceeding with the launch. These “issues” could jeopardize the sales success of Throne and Liberty.
It appears Throne and Liberty is not selling as well as hoped in South Korea, with servers needing to be merged due to lack of sales success. It may be that Amazon is hesitating with the release for this reason.
Moreover, in the first quarter of 2024, strong console games like Stellar Blade, Tekken 8, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, or Like a Dragon are set to release. There are fears that Throne and Liberty could be overshadowed by such strong competition.
It is also unclear how much interest players on PS5 and Xbox Series X have in MMORPGs, it is stated.
Hence, there are now speculations that Amazon might first release only the PC version and then follow up with a version for PS5 and Xbox Series X.
NCSoft has been trying to enter the console market for 6 years – failing
What’s behind this: This is all hard to understand from a western perspective. What one must realize is that in South Korea, consoles play no role at all; everything revolves around PC and Mobile.
The pioneer for “MMORPGs on consoles” is Pearl Abyss with Black Desert. NCSoft (“Guild Wars 2”) has been talking for years about bringing their PC games to consoles and originally wanted to do this with Blade & Soul years ago, but they never managed it and now seem to be facing difficulties and uncertainties again.
In 2018, NCSoft proudly announced that it would develop 4 new MMOs and MMORPGs for PC and PS4 – including Throne and Liberty. All “non-mobile games” were to be aimed at consoles and PC in the future. None of this has worked in the last 6 years.
Amazon also has no real experience in bringing an MMORPG to PS5 and Xbox Series X: New World and Lost Ark were purely Steam games.
According to the new report, it now seems unlikely that we will see “Throne and Liberty” in quarters 1 and 2 in Europe. It might really end up with a release from September 2024 or Amazon may prioritizes a PC release.
Note: It is a bit challenging to fully understand the issues from reports out of South Korea that are translated using Google Translate. It is a very different video game culture and language.
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