[Concall] NCSoft "TL, Combat and Growth Content Revamp... Domestic Pre-Release"

NCSoft has entered the final preparation stage for its most anticipated new title of the year, THRONE AND LIBERTY (hereafter TL). After the pre-test, NCSoft improved various aspects of TL based on user feedback and plans to release it domestically within this year.

Hong Won-jun, NCSoft’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), explained during the Q2 2023 earnings conference call on the 9th, “The global launch of TL is being carried out in collaboration with Amazon Games, and user testing is also being prepared.” The domestic release is targeted for December.

Hong CFO stated, “The reason for launching first in Korea in December is that we needed sufficient time to reflect on various issues raised after the previous closed beta test (CBT). We expect to create buzz (word-of-mouth marketing) through the domestic release and then build a global supportive fandom based on that.”

He added, “Through this process, we plan to simultaneously launch globally next year together with Amazon Games.”

TL has reportedly undergone several improvements recently. Hong CFO said, “After the domestic test in May, we understood the need to improve the combat system and early growth experience. We have focused on these two areas for improvement.”

Hong CFO explained, “Broadly speaking, two main improvements were made. The first is enabling more dynamic combat, such as allowing general attacks while moving and improving response speed.”

He continued, “To enhance the fun of growth, we significantly reduced repetitive content and greatly increased the level-up speed. There were various considerations and attempts to satisfy diverse users’ preferences, including by region, age group, and MMORPG competitive play preferences.”

Hong CFO said, “We believe that many improvements and reflections were made following user feedback through collaboration with our partner Amazon.”

However, he took a conservative stance regarding TL’s revenue targets. Since the game supports PC and console platforms, NCSoft does not expect TL to fully offset all revenue declines from various aspects such as the business model (BM).

Hong CFO explained, “NCSoft is also preparing for the sequential release of other mobile games and the launch of Blade & Soul 2 in Taiwan and Japan, which we expect will help increase revenue. There are also other projects we are focusing on to achieve a rebound.”

NCSoft’s new titles originally planned for release this year, the brawler action game Battle Crush and the collection-based role-playing game (RPG) Blade & Soul S, have been delayed until the first half of next year.

Hong CFO emphasized, “We are internally making extensive preparations to release the two intellectual properties (IPs), Battle Crush and Blade & Soul S, in the first half of next year.”

He added, “There are various reasons for the delay to the first half, including emphasizing NCSoft’s unique differentiators and meeting global standards. Both games are receiving final finishing touches to provide the optimal experience across various platforms.”

He also revealed plans for the release of Aion 2. Hong CFO said, “Aion 2 is a very important IP for the company’s revenue performance and will set new standards in all aspects, including content scale and quality. It is too early to talk about the pipeline, but it will proceed internally according to the timeline.”

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