The MMORPG Throne and Liberty was released in South Korea at the end of 2023. The rest of the world still has to wait a bit. At an investor meeting, the responsible development team from NCSoft presented its financial results for the last fiscal year and revealed the status of the release.
What is the current status of the release of Throne and Liberty?
- Originally, Throne and Liberty was supposed to be released in the first half of 2023. The release was postponed to work, among other things, on the combat system.
- The MMORPG has been available in South Korea since December 7, 2023. According to NCSoft, Throne and Liberty is expected to be released in early 2024 in the rest of the world.
- Just a few weeks ago, there were initial reports that the release could be delayed. There are supposed to be difficulties with the console version of the MMORPG.
As the responsible parties consider the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions essential for the European market, initial rumors arose that the release of Throne and Liberty could be postponed.
In a recent meeting, some analysts were able to ask questions to the executives of NCSoft. An update regarding the release of the MMORPG was provided, which could possibly indicate a delay.
Throne and Liberty held a special event:
Throne and Liberty will still be released in 2024, but…
When will Throne and Liberty be released? During the conversation, NCSoft was asked about how the team is handling the disappointing player numbers of Throne and Liberty. The analyst wanted to know if the numbers would affect the global release of the game.
According to NCSoft, the MMORPG is still set to release in 2024:
We have confirmed that the expectations of Western users regarding the provision of domestic services are growing and growing. Thus, nothing changes about the release this year. As you know, Amazon is responsible for the release. Therefore, Amazon will examine competing works in terms of marketing strategy, make a decision, and announce it.
NCSoft, via bbs.ruliweb.com
This, however, means that the release may have been internally postponed. NCSoft no longer speaks of early 2024 but rather of the entire year as a possible release period. It could, therefore, be that Throne and Liberty will only be released in Europe at the end of 2024.
NCSoft also mentioned that competing games will be examined. This is to prevent the MMORPG from being released at the same time as other titles, thereby winning fewer players.
Possible competing products include:
- the “Dawntrail” expansion of Final Fantasy XIV. It is set to release sometime in the summer of 2024. An exact release date has not yet been established.
- the “Gold Road” expansion of The Elder Scrolls Online. A fixed release date has already been set: The title is set to release on June 3, 2024, for PC and on June 18, 2024, for consoles.
- the “The War Within” expansion for World of Warcraft. Blizzard also announced a vague release for 2024 here. However, it is expected that the DLC will be released sometime in the 3rd or 4th quarter.
- all MMORPGs that could be released in 2024. These include Ashes of Creation, Project Ghost, and ArchAge 2.
Thus, Amazon must carefully watch when the individual expansions are released. This way, they can determine the perfect time to release Throne and Liberty in Europe.
It will therefore take some time before we learn the final release date of Throne and Liberty for the West. The team may be waiting until the release dates of other MMORPGs are finalized.
Although the player numbers are below expectations, NCSoft was able to mobilize a total of 15,000 players with an event in Throne and Liberty: The new MMORPG from Amazon has held a huge PvP battle – Over 15,000 players participated across 10 servers
