Taekjin Hyung Launches... NC, Can 'Blade & Soul 2' Escape the 'Lineage Shadow'?

Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCSoft

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] Riding on the success of last year's 'Lineage brothers,' NCSoft, which surpassed 2 trillion KRW in annual sales for the first time in history, has announced a major new release this year and is stepping up its 'level-up.'

Taekjin Kim personally steps in... "Blade & Soul 2 broke technical limits"

On the 9th, NCSoft CEO Kim Taekjin held an online showcase as the head of game development and unveiled NCSoft's new title, 'Blade & Soul 2 (B&S2).' CEO Kim said, "We developed it aiming to reach the pinnacle of action," adding, "Through B&S2, players will experience a new kind of action that once seemed impossible." Pre-registration for B&S2 begins at 2 PM on the same day, and the game is scheduled for release within May.

B&S2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that continues the story of the original game released in 2012, featuring a new combat system as its strength. Users can explore a 3D world where every visible area is accessible, and combat can utilize all terrains and objects.

B&S2 is NCSoft's ambitious project for a quantum leap. The company's expectations are high enough that CEO Kim is personally overseeing the game. He stated, "By successfully breaking through technical limits once thought impossible midway, we changed our dream from making a sequel to B&S to creating an entirely new intellectual property (IP)." The industry is also keenly watching whether NCSoft can escape the shadow of Lineage with B&S2.

Can the 'new release' escape the shadow of Lineage?

For years, NCSoft's core revenue source has been the Lineage IP. As of last year, the annual sales of the Lineage brothers totaled 1.9585 trillion KRW. This includes 828.7 billion KRW from the mobile game Lineage M, 849.6 billion KRW from Lineage 2M, 175.7 billion KRW from the PC game Lineage, and 104.5 billion KRW from Lineage 2. This accounts for over 80% of NCSoft's total sales (2.4162 trillion KRW).

Given the heavy dependence on the Lineage IP, NCSoft's concerns inevitably deepen. Although Lineage continues its successful run, there is no guarantee that its current popularity will be sustained. Moreover, users have consistently raised complaints about issues such as probability-based item controversies. If 'Linjeossi' (middle-aged men who enjoy Lineage) turn away, it would be a critical blow to NCSoft.

In this context, NCSoft's moves toward change are clear. Having had no new releases since 2019, NCSoft plans to diversify its revenue by launching three new games this year, entering the console market, and expanding globally. Pre-registration for the new mobile game 'Pro Baseball H3' started the day before, and 'Trickster M' has been accepting pre-registrations since October last year. Lineage 2M is entering the Taiwanese and Japanese markets. Additionally, last month, NCSoft expanded into entertainment by launching the K-pop entertainment platform 'Universe.'

If the new releases succeed, NCSoft is expected to look beyond breaking the 2 trillion KRW sales mark toward a 3 trillion KRW sales era. Especially if B&S2 performs as well as Lineage 2M, NCSoft's net profit this year is projected to reach 1.3 trillion KRW. Securing an additional customer base in their 20s and 30s beyond the Linjeossi demographic is also a significant achievement. An NCSoft official said, "We expect B&S2 to have a sales curve similar to Lineage 2M," adding, "It was designed targeting a different customer base, and we anticipate many users in their 20s and 30s."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.