Last week NCSoft announced Amazon Games would publish Throne and Liberty in North America, South America, Europe, and Japan. I'm going to skip pretending I know everything and just copy the press release below.
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon Games and NCSOFT today announced an agreement to bring massively multiplayer online role-playing game THRONE AND LIBERTY to North America, South America, Europe, and Japan. Amazon Games will publish the highly anticipated title for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with support for cross-platform play.
“NCSOFT has created some of the most popular and longest-running online games in the world, so it’s no surprise that THRONE AND LIBERTY is among today’s most anticipated MMOs,” said Christoph Hartmann, VP, Amazon Games. “Publishing games that live and grow over time remains a critical piece of our strategy, and delivering games of the highest quality from the world’s most talented developers is one of the cornerstones of our business. The last year has taught us a great deal about publishing and managing a successful live-service game on a global scale, and we’re ready to bring THRONE AND LIBERTY players an incredible experience at launch.”
THRONE AND LIBERTY is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that combines story-driven adventure and action combat. In THRONE AND LIBERTY, players enter a vast world with constantly shifting geographical and environmental features that change the course of play. Massive-scale player vs. player and player vs. environment combat are fundamental to THRONE AND LIBERTY. Players can transform into animals to soar through the air or explore the depths of the sea, and even tip the odds of battle in their favor by triggering powerful environmental effects, like solar eclipses or rainstorms.
NCSOFT has a long history of developing and publishing beloved multiplayer franchises across the globe, including Lineage, AION, Blade & Soul, and Guild Wars. THRONE AND LIBERTY is the latest next-gen MMO from the South Korea-based developer, and its first to be released across multiple regions in collaboration with an external publisher.
“Amazon Games is one of the most reliable partners for publishing massive live-service games globally, with proven expertise in operations, localization, marketing, and community support,” said Moonyoung Choi, principal development management officer at NCSOFT. “For our next-gen flagship title, we’re confident they are the right publisher to bring THRONE AND LIBERTY’s inimitable value and its dynamic, immersive MMO experience to players around the world.”
THRONE AND LIBERTY continues Amazon Games’ momentum in game publishing, following the success of its internally developed MMO New World and action RPG Lost Ark from Smilegate RPG, both of which have topped Steam and Twitch charts and continue to nurture strong player communities. Amazon has also announced publishing agreements with Bandai Namco Online for Blue Protocol, Crystal Dynamics for the next major Tomb Raider game, and Glowmade and Disruptive Games for unannounced titles.
With the facts presented, I'm now free to offer up a little commentary. I could note that by outsourcing the publishing of the game in foreign markets, NCSoft was able to lay off 20% of the staff at NCSoft West, with NCSoft West CEO Jeff Anderson also departing the company.
I could also note that Amazon Games is also turning into strictly into a game publisher. While the average concurrent players for New World is up almost 50% over the last 30 days compared to July, that figure is still barely greater than EVE Online's, with both games recording under 20,000 users online over the last month. Amazon Games is touting publishing games by Smilegate, Bandi Namco, and Crystal Dynamics, but what about its own upcoming games? I don't know of any.
Writing about the deal nearly a week late means I need to come up with a view hardly anyone has published. I think I found one. While NCSoft is outsourcing publishing its new game (and laying off staff), another South Korean company, Pearl Abyss, just spent the last two years moving all the publishing for its flagship game Black Desert Online in-house. Believe it or not, Pearl Abyss made more money doing so in Japan and did the same in North America in February 2021. Not so long ago, was it?
I probably won't play Throne and Liberty, although with the Amazon connection that could change based on how and when the game is finally released. But the quiet transformation of Amazon Games' to a publisher is an event to watch.
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