Lineage W

Last updated
Lineage W
Lineage W logo.png
Developer(s) NCSoft
Publisher(s) NCSoft
Series Lineage
Engine Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
Release
  • AS: November 4, 2021
  • WW: TBA
Genre(s) MMORPG
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Lineage W is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by NCSoft. It is a fifth major installment of the Lineage series by using all elements from Lineage game and sharing some elements with the Lineage II title. The game was announced in August 2021, [1] [2] and released for Android, iOS, and Microsoft Windows operating systems on November 4 of the same year in East Asia. The game supports cross-platform play between mobile, PCs, and consoles.

Contents

Although the game was set for worldwide release in 2021, it is still unavailable in regions outside of Asia. The game is also set to be released for the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.

Development

The week before THE WORLD showcase events, NCSoft announced that a new Lineage game will be the largest launching title ever. It was initially targeted for worldwide launch with most platforms supported. Later, NCsoft has updated the website to reveal more information and open for pre-registration. NCSoft CCO Taek Jin Kim marked this game as "the final Lineage".

Lineage W introduces a single build for the global market to create a global battle community. Players from different countries can cooperate and compete in a single server. In order to convert all elements in Lineage from 2.5D to 3D, NCSoft has used Unreal Engine 4 to develop this game. It supports NCSoft in-house AI-Translation that can translate the chat/community/communication in real-time to the player. Voice-to-text is also included in-game to make easy communication between players. [3]

Reception

Prior to its release, the game had mixed expectations from users and industry experts. Players were concerned with pay-to-win mechanics ported from former titles by NCSoft. [4]

Despite popular concern, Lineage W topped the Google Store and iOS Store charts in South Korea for several days after its release. It is estimated that the game earned 16 billion won every day during the first four days of its release, breaking record of highest first-day revenue a game from the company ever had. The game remained at the number one spot on Google Play in South Korea for a full month after its release, with estimated sales of more than 200 billion won (166 million dollars) by December 2021. [5]

Although Lineage W was successful in the Korean and Taiwanese markets, it did not find similar success in other Asian markets. Notably in Japan, the second largest gaming market in Asia, the game found disappointing sale figures, with similar poor performance in countries like Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. [6] This came as a surprise, as Lineage W was aimed to cater to the overseas market. The financial failure of Lineage W outside of South Korea and Taiwan is possibly one of the reasons for the reluctance of a European and North American release of the game by NCSoft.

Related Research Articles

<i>Lineage</i> (video game) 1998 massively-multiplayer online role-playing video game

Lineage, also known as Lineage: The Blood Pledge in Western markets, is a medieval fantasy, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in Korea and the United States in 1998 by the South Korean computer game developer NCSoft, based on a Korean comic book series of the same name. It is the first game in the Lineage series. It is most popular in Korea and is available in Chinese, Japanese, and English. The game was designed by Jake Song, who had previously designed Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, another MMORPG.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NCSoft</span> South Korea-based video game developer and publisher

NCSoft Corporation is a South Korean video game developer and publisher headquartered in Pangyo, Seongnam, South Korea, primarily known for the distribution of massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Lineage and Guild Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile game</span> Video game played on a mobile device

A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone, tablet, PDA to handheld game console, portable media player or graphing calculator, with and without network availability. The earliest known game on a mobile phone was a Tetris variant on the Hagenuk MT-2000 device from 1994.

<i>Lineage II</i> 2003 video game

Lineage II is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and the second game in the Lineage series. It is a prequel to Lineage and is set 150 years before the first game. It has become popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007. To date, the game has been played by more than 14 million users, most of whom are based in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamania</span> Taiwanese video game developer

Gamania Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. (Gamania) is a PC online game and digital entertainment corporation with its headquarters located in Taipei, Taiwan. It was the first Taiwanese online game brand to expand globally, with overseas branch offices publishing and developing digital entertainment contents in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. It was also looking to set up branch offices in North America and Europe in 2010.

<i>Aion</i> (video game) 2008 video game

Aion: The Tower of Eternity is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by the South Korean company NCSoft. The game combines PvP and PvE in a fantasy game environment. As of May 2009, Aion had 3.5 million subscribers in Asia. AION's first major expansion pack was released to North America and Europe on September 7, 2010 under the name Aion: Assault on Balaurea. Truly Free launched on April 11, 2012 with no restrictions. The second major expansion was released in North America on June 26, 2013 under the name Aion: Dark Betrayal. Its most recent expansion was launched on July 13, 2016 under the name Aion: Echoes of Eternity.

The history of massively multiplayer online games spans over thirty years and hundreds of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) titles. The origin and influence on MMO games stems from MUDs, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and earlier social games.

<i>Throne and Liberty</i> Upcoming MMORPG

Throne and Liberty is an upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and to be published in South Korea by NCSoft. It is to be published in North America, South America, Europe, and Japan by Amazon Games.

<i>Grand Chase</i> 2003 video game

Grand Chase was a free-to-play, two-dimensional side-scrolling MMORPG, developed by the South Korean company KOG Studios. Alternative names for Grand Chase included Three Young Heroes, Eternal Adventures, both used in Taiwan prior to its closure, as well as Rainbow Warriors on the Mainland Chinese server.

Openmaru studio is an Internet service development studio of game company NCsoft, which is well known for Lineage, Lineage II, and Guild Wars among other MMORPGs. Openmaru was established in August 2006 to expand on its business by entering the Web application and productivity field in developing and offering new Internet services instead of limiting the company's potential to just online gaming.

<i>Blade & Soul</i> 2016 video game

Blade & Soul is a Wuxia-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Korean NCSoft. Blade & Soul was released in Western territories on January 19, 2016. A Japanese animated television adaptation aired in 2014 from April 3 to June 26 on TBS and other stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spacetime Studios</span> Games development studio

Spacetime Studios (STS) is a games development studio, based in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2005 by a small group of PC MMO game developers. The start-up was created with the aim to create Sci-Fi MMOs for the PC market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line (software)</span> Freeware instant communications app

Line is a freeware app for instant communications, operated and developed by SoftBank Group's LY Corporation. Line users exchange: texts, images, video and audio and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. In addition, Line is a platform providing services including digital wallet as Line Pay, news stream as Line Today, video on demand as Line TV and digital comic distribution as Line Manga and Line Webtoon.

Lineage is a medieval fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game franchise by the South Korean video game developer NCSoft. It has become highly popular in South Korea with subscriptions counting into the millions, but is also available in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and English-language versions. It is also one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time, having grossed $9.7 billion in lifetime revenue, as of 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Mobile</span>

Camp Mobile, founded in February 2013, is a mobile application development company based in Seoul, Korea. Ram Lee and Jongmahn Park are the co-CEOs. The company currently operates seven mobile services ranging from social network service to smartwatch application, including BAND, Moot, SNOW, Whoscall, WatchMaster, LINE Deco, and LINE Launcher.

Whoscall is a mobile application that offers caller identification services. It was developed by Gogolook Co., Ltd., a listed company in Taiwan. The function of Whoscall is to identify incoming calls, detect scam/harassment numbers, and filter spam text messages, blocking them accordingly. Its name is derived from a shorter version of the phrase “Who is calling?“. The app currently has over 100 million users, 2.6 billion phone number entries, 25 billion identified number & SMS, and is available in 31 countries/regions, including Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Brazil. The application owns the largest number database in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Whoscall is also the strategic partner of several governmental agencies in their anti-fraud efforts, including the National Police Agency (Taiwan), the Financial Supervisory Service , Fukuoka City Government., Police Cyber Taskforce (Thailand) the Malaysia police and state government.

37Games is an international browser and mobile game developer and publisher. Its gaming platform covers North America, Europe, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and several Southeast Asia countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Singapore. 37Games is registered in Shanghai and has branch offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. In 2014, 37Games went public on China's A-Share stock market.

Kakao Corporation is a South Korean Internet conglomerate headquartered in Jeju City. It was formed through the merger of Daum Communications and the original Kakao Inc in 2010. The company was renamed Daum Kakao in 2014. In 2015 it was rebranded once more, reverting simply to Kakao.

<i>Lineage 2: Revolution</i> 2016 mobile MMORPG video game

Lineage 2: Revolution is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Netmarble for mobile platforms under license from NCSoft, taking place 100 years before the events of NCSoft's Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction storyline. It is part of the Lineage series.

WeGame is the flagship game portal of the Chinese company Tencent.

References

  1. ↑ Royce, Bree (19 August 2021). "NCsoft says Lineage W will launch this year for PC, mobile, PS5, and the Switch". Massively Overpowered. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  2. ↑ Koo, Min-Ki (2021-08-10). "NCSoft to launch Lineage W, first game with priority on global users". The Korea Economic Daily Global Edition. Retrieved 2021-09-23.
  3. ↑ "Lineage W Unveils Across the Globe". Business Wire. 19 August 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Lineage W tops game charts though response remains mixed". Korea JoongAng Daily . 2021-11-09. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  5. ↑ "NC Lineage W maintains top 1 for a month after its release... Expected to be a long-term success". ZDNet Korea (in Korean). 2021-12-09. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  6. ↑ "It's the best game of all time... 'Lineage W' with poor overseas results". mk.co.kr (in Korean). 2021-12-17. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.