Shortly after the launch of Throne and Liberty, MeinMMO was once again able to ask the people responsible at Amazon Games some questions. It was about insights gained so far, current issues, and plans for the future.
After the interview prior to the early access of Throne and Liberty, MeinMMO again had the opportunity after the launch of the MMORPG to grill Merv Lee Kwai (Head of Third Party Publishing) and Daniel Lafuente (Globalization Design Manager) from Amazon Games with questions.
The “Head of Third Party Publishing” is responsible for the release of games that are not developed directly by Amazon Games. As “Globalization Design Manager,” Daniel Lafuente usually ensures that the player experience of Throne and Liberty is tailored to the international communities.
Our questions focused on the insights gained from the early access as well as the launch, but also on current issues, the player numbers so far, feedback from the community, and plans for upcoming patches. What Daniel Lafuente had to say about bots, we already quote in another current, thematically related report on Throne and Liberty.
Here you can see the launch trailer of Throne and Liberty:
The Launch in Retrospect
In our first question, we wanted to know if there was a problem during the early access or the official launch that caught the publisher off guard. And what is the current status, what is the team working on? The answer from Merv Lee Kwai:
We definitely wanted to conduct multiple rounds of testing to better understand how players navigate through the game world, how our servers withstand the load, and what the right balance is between character creation and wait times in the queue.
We set thresholds that we had to adhere to in order to get our players into the game, to ensure that the servers remain healthy long-term, and to consistently increase the character caps so that people who joined a bit later could play with their friends. Server transfers also played an important role in giving our players the opportunity to switch between realms to find the one that suits them best.
The team has been working day and night to solve the issues associated with the launch, and our main focus right now is on minimizing gameplay interruptions, reducing and revising maintenance times, and addressing emerging customer concerns.
After the announcement of the player numbers for Throne and Liberty at launch, comparisons with Lost Ark and New World had to come: 3 million players, that is a strong number, but far from as high as the other launches. We wanted to know how the expectations looked at Amazon Games, if they could explain the difference, and how many players are playing on consoles.
Merv Lee Kwai expresses his satisfaction with the launch of Throne and Liberty in his response:
We are so grateful for all the players who have joined us so far in the world of Solisium. We have a packed schedule with updates for Throne and Liberty coming soon, and we believe that the players will love what we have in store for them.
It’s true that our other titles at Amazon Games have been incredibly well received, and we are proud of what we have achieved so far, but every game is different, and every launch is different. The year 2024 was filled with amazing games, and the competition is fierce. As you said, 3 million is a strong number, and we are definitely satisfied with the response to Throne and Liberty.
It reached the first place in sales on Steam and has been in the top 5 of the charts for most-played games on Steam since its release. While we can’t say how the game distributes across the various platforms, we are very curious to see how fans will react to everything we have in store for them. There is so much ahead of us!
In response to our inquiry about how the console launch went (this was a premiere for Amazon Games) and whether lessons could be learned for the launch of New World Aeternum on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, the “Head of Third Party Publishing” explained that such a simultaneous multi-platform launch is very rare in MMOs.
However, due to the crossplay feature, it was a must to release Throne and Liberty all at once for all platforms. All the experiences gained from this were then forwarded to other internal teams to make all subsequent launches better than the last.
Community Feedback and the Future of the MMORPG
The first question to Daniel Lafuente is about the feedback from players so far. We want to know which areas of the game have received particular praise from their perspective and whether they have already identified potential improvements for future updates from the criticism of the community. The answer from the Globalization Design Manager:
The positive feedback from players regarding the core gameplay pillars and the overall experience of Throne and Liberty has encouraged us greatly. Players praise the incredible visual quality of the game, the classic “massively multiplayer” feel where thousands of characters seamlessly interact, and the sheer spectacle of our large-scale PvP battles.
Our instanced PvE dungeons for 6 players have also received much praise for their crisp, challenging combat encounters and mechanics. It is really nice to see that these outstanding features, like the massive PvP and group PvE content, are being received so well.
Nevertheless, we know that there is always room for improvement. That’s why we continuously and carefully analyze all data and feedback from players, with special attention to areas where players report frustrations, such as pace of progression or friction with the systems. You can expect that our upcoming patches and our roadmap for live operations will directly address many of these main issues.
I can’t reveal many details yet, as our plans are still in progress, but I can say that smoothing the progression curve, expanding customization options, and implementing more quality-of-life upgrades are at the top of our priority list. We will use the launch phase to determine the areas that still need improvement accurately.
Building on the information about already planned improvements, we want to know from Daniel Lafuente what content the western community can expect from the content patch announced for December. Unfortunately, the Amazon Games employee cannot reveal any concrete details yet:
“Due to the invaluable feedback we have received from our players so far at launch, the plans are still in development. What I can say is that we are committed to maintaining an open and transparent dialogue with our community by providing detailed information about our roadmap for live operations. You can expect that we will announce the focus and priorities for the December patch in the coming weeks.”
However, one detail was still brought to light. The rare enchanted ink is currently missing from the western version of the MMORPG due to a bug. A hotfix is expected to resolve this error soon. You can read more details here: Empty Lithography – How to craft the item from Throne and Liberty and find enchanted ink
