Actually, Throne and Liberty had a strong launch on Steam as well as on consoles. However, compared to the previous MMORPG launches from Amazon Games, it doesn’t look that rosy anymore. How do the stark differences in player numbers explain themselves? Our MMORPG expert Karsten Scholz analyzes the launches of Lost Ark and Throne and Liberty (and also New World).
How did Throne and Liberty launch on Steam and consoles? Thanks to official numbers, it is known that Amazon Games and NCSoft welcomed more than three million registered players in Solisium at the western launch of Throne and Liberty.
It is also clear, thanks to websites like steamdb.info: The all-time high (from the first launch weekend) stands at 336,300 concurrent active Steam users. In the following days, the new MMORPG could regularly count more than 250,000 players for itself. On Steam. Additionally, there are T&L fans playing on PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series.
How have Amazon Games’ previous MMORPGs performed? The comparison between Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark is almost unavoidable. Both MMORPGs rely on a free-to-play model, come from Asian developers, use Amazon Games as a western publisher, and had been live in other countries for some time before the western release.
The launch trailer of Throne and Liberty:
However, Lost Ark was able to generate a significantly larger hype in February 2022 and attract 1,325,305 Steam users simultaneously at launch. This still ranks in fifth place on the all-time Steam list. In this case, there are no console players, as Lost Ark was only released via Steam.
After two weeks, the MMORPG from Smilegate reportedly had over 10 million western players, worldwide it was 20 million. Throne and Liberty is still a good way from that (while it is currently unclear how many players have played the Korean version of T&L so far).
The Reasons for the Different Success
As many similarities as Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark may have, the initial conditions of the respective launches are quite different. Here are the conditions for Lost Ark:
- For Lost Ark, there was already a nearly 20-minute long gameplay trailer in 2014, eight years before the western launch, which overshadowed everything that had been released in isometric perspective so far – including the Diablo trilogy.
- The hype that was ignited at that time was kept ablaze over the years with ever new, comprehensive, and spectacularly staged gameplay trailers.
- When Lost Ark was released in South Korea and Russia in 2019, various hyped English and German-speaking streamers were on board, who showcased the MMORPG early and extensively on their channels.
- Amazon Games naturally used the synergy with Twitch to further fuel the hype for Lost Ark.
- The enthusiasm of the streamers transferred to many of their viewers. On the launch day in the West, Lost Ark had 1.2 million simultaneous viewers on Twitch. By March 25, there were over 290,000 streams and more than 158 million watched hours on Twitch.
In my opinion, Lost Ark benefited from three factors:
- Due to the isometric perspective and combat experience, the MMORPG strongly resembled hack-and-slash titles like Diablo. Fans of such action RPGs had been waiting for about ten years for a game that could replace Diablo 3 and shorten the wait for Diablo 4.
- At the same time, Lost Ark appealed to many MMORPG fans through its genre, who were also looking back on a long drought (there was new World a year earlier, but Amazon Games’ first online RPG disappointed many players).
- When Lost Ark was released in February 2022, the world was still partly in the Corona pandemic – the international health emergency was lifted by the WHO in May 2023. Especially online games benefited from high or rising player numbers during the COVID years.
This trailer shows what awaits you in Lost Ark:
What were the initial conditions for Throne and Liberty? The new MMORPG from NCSoft was also in development for many years but did not make a name for itself with great gameplay trailers, but rather with reports about its problematic development.
It didn’t look any better when Throne and Liberty completed its first launch in South Korea. Instead of hype on Twitch, there was player criticism (about the fundamental combat system and auto-systems that are typically only found in mobile games) and disappointing player numbers. The result: a management change in the responsible team.
But despite extensive patches responding to the feedback from the Korean community, there was also criticism from western testers during the open beta in July – the subsequent list of homework for the developers was long.
Due to this situation, the anticipation for Throne and Liberty could never compete with the hype surrounding Lost Ark. However, there were other factors as well:
- Following the Corona pandemic, the gaming industry experienced a hangover mood, with many releases from 2023 being able to attract significantly fewer players or buyers than hoped.
- While Lost Ark had the potential to appeal to fans of two genres, Throne and Liberty, with its focus on large-group content, guilds, and PvP, targets a comparatively small hardcore audience.
- Additionally, there were concerns about monetization combined with the strong focus on PvP and competitive guild content, which was not present in Lost Ark in that form (although monetization can certainly be criticized there as well).
- Although later added content like cooperative dungeons or the solo tower has somewhat broadened the focus of Throne and Liberty, the game still does not aim to appeal to everyone or target the largest possible player base.
- Throne and Liberty is being released in a year when the biggest MMORPGs on the market have each received a comprehensive expansion.
However: Throne and Liberty is not just an expansion for an existing MMORPG, but a fresh gaming experience. And unlike the previous MMORPGs released by Amazon Games, Throne and Liberty is available not only on Steam but also on consoles.
The Launch of New World
What about New World? The only MMORPG developed so far by Amazon Games greatly benefited at launch in September 2021 from the fact that there had been no online role-playing game developed by a large, western studio since 2014 (Wildstar and The Elder Scrolls Online).
There was also no Lost Ark yet. At that time, we were deeper into the Corona pandemic in 2021, and through various streamers and the Twitch synergies, Amazon Games managed to build a noticeable hype ahead of the release.
The trailer for New World Aeternum:
It also didn’t matter that the New World team looked back on a difficult development and had to switch its focus from survival and PvP to a theme park framework with quests, PvE challenges, and more story content due to tester feedback.
At launch, 913,634 Steam users were simultaneously on the servers. A real number for a game that you have to buy. How many versions of the game have been sold to date remains unclear. In 2022, the unofficial number of nearly 17 million buyers circulated online (via forbes.com).
Nowadays, however, there are fewer than 10,000 players on Aeternum at the same time. The numbers have fallen even more drastically after the strong launch than in Lost Ark. Whether the new Aeternum version from October 15, 2024 can provide a long-lasting third spring remains to be seen.
A Strong Launch Considering the Initial Conditions
When all these factors are taken into account, there can only be one conclusion in my view: Throne and Liberty has made a strong launch – given the (partly self-inflicted) initial conditions by NCSoft.
After the enormously difficult development, the constant Pay2Progress discussions, and the launch with a combat system that utilized automated mobile systems and also felt bad otherwise, it is quite a wonder that the western launch version of Throne and Liberty can ultimately attract so many players.
Especially in a year full of other large MMORPG releases and without – as silly as it sounds – a supportive pandemic that kept many people at home playing more. That the numbers are comparatively high despite all these factors is likely due to two points I have already mentioned:
- Throne and Liberty is a new MMORPG with a fresh gaming experience
- The game is also available on consoles, where the competition is not as fierce
Additionally, NCSoft and Amazon Games have made a tremendous effort to implement significant parts of player feedback, such as noticeably improving the combat system and alleviating monetization.
How quickly player numbers will fall in the coming weeks and months will be interesting to observe. In a few days, the next online role-playing game, New World Aeternum, will be released, which is likely to attract some genre enthusiasts.
