Blade & Soul Heroes Plummets: NCSoft’s Western Gamble Stumbles

Blade & Soul Heroes, launched on Steam on September 24th, has experienced a significant drop in player numbers. After debuting with 2,999 concurrent players, the game saw only 953 concurrent users on September 29th, a decline of approximately 68% within a single week.

The game’s player count has steadily decreased since its release: 1,648 on the second day, just over 1,000 during the weekend, and fewer than 1,000 by the sixth day. This decline appears to be linked to negative player reception, particularly concerning the game’s monetization model, which relies heavily on paid lucky item boxes (Gacha mechanics). While Steam user reviews have shifted from “mostly negative” to “neutral,” there hasn’t been a significant positive shift.

While technical issues and bugs can be addressed with updates, the core business model may require more substantial changes. Given the aim to attract a global audience via Steam, the initial performance casts doubt on the game’s pre-launch strategy. To learn more about the game, you can read our preview article. If you’d like to try it out, you can download it via Steam or on mobile devices.