The South Korean publisher has halted development on two games and ceased support for two others… but Ncsoft is optimistic.
Ncsoft is reorganizing its internal studios. It has established four subsidiaries. Three of them are independent game studios and the fourth is dedicated to the development of artificial intelligence. Studio X is the former Throne and Liberty team, Studio Y is working on Project LLL, an open world MMO shooter similar to The Division, and Project Z is known for Tactan, a strategy game. The AI team is called NC AI (this is what NC Research was spun off to), which will develop Ncsoft’s own technology, including their LLM called Varco, and bring these innovations to game development and explore new business opportunities. These will all be officially launched from the first of February.
Battle Crush, a multiplayer action fighter title, was released earlier this year in Early Access for PC, mobile and Nintendo Switch. It will no longer be available after November 29 due to game over. Project M, which was similar to Quantic Dream’s games but would have been an action-adventure game, will also not be completed. Development of Miniverse (a sandbox MMO house building game) and Doguri Adventure (a casual adventure game) will also be halted as a result of the restructuring.
As a result, more people will be transferred to one of the studios, but some will lose their jobs. They will have access to Ncsoft’s established retirement program. Ncsoft has not made much profit in the last few quarters as the Throne and Liberty raid in South Korea has not been very good. Revenue was down 16.1% year-over-year and operating profit was down 75%. Ncsoft believes that the restructuring should lead to better efficiency and is confident that Throne and Liberty can become an internationally recognized IP (it reached 3 million users in its first week) and is optimistic about Project LLL and Tactan.
We’ll see…
