Throne and Liberty’s Weak Performance Causes More NCSoft Layoffs

NCSoft’s financial situation seems to be worsening. Its financial reports have shown a steady decline since last year. Although there are occasional positives, such as the small improvements seen with Guild Wars 2 expansions, the overall picture, especially on the mobile side, has been grim.

The situation is reported by Yonhap News to be even more severe, as the company plans a large-scale re-organization to prevent sustaining chronic losses.

This restructuring would result in layoffs besides introducing voluntary retirement and resignation procedures, a measure not encountered in NCSoft since 2012.

NCSoft’s recent standout, Throne and Liberty, has also faced issues. Even before its global release, in collaboration with Amazon Games, player counts have been declining, especially notable in their home territory of Korea. Notably, after the Korean launch, NCSoft did not even include the game in their financial report.

Throne and Liberty has a significant global player base. Data from Steam Charts shows nearly 200K players on their platform. Acknowledged by NCSoft CEOs Taek-Jin Kim and Byung-Moo Park, they also admit that financial gains from the game might be limited due to revenue sharing with Amazon Games and perceived “weak” global monetization strategies.

They see this as an indicator that the game is not enforcing pay-to-win strategies and has eliminated the gacha system.

The company leaders state, “Despite imminent hardships, this is the necessary trajectory to enhance our constitution and advance as a company with innate creativity and enterprise spirit.”

In light of these events, NCSoft plans to establish four independent studios for new creative undertakings. Unfortunately, the company is also bracing for another wave of layoffs and potential project cancellations.

Which brings us concerning the lack of updates on Blade & Soul: NEO Classic over the past eight months.