Amazon Games has announced that it will be bringing another MMORPG to North America and Europe, this time as publisher for NCSoft’s upcoming Throne and Liberty. In 2021, the gaming division of the online retail giant released New World, which launched to incredible numbers of people eager to explore the game’s fictional island Aeternum. Unfortunately, breaking Steam records uncovered unforeseen problems and New World experienced major issues from day one.
Amazon didn’t give up, however, and New World still has a steady user base, though numbers have dropped from an all-time peak of 913,000 concurrent players to an average of 21,000 in the past 30 days. In February 2022, the company also brought Lost Ark to North America, South America, and Europe, and the Korean MMORPG has been very well received. Within 24 hours of release, Lost Ark became the second-most played game on Steam and most-watched on Twitch.
It seems that Amazon is eager to repeat the success of Lost Ark, as the company's gaming division has just announced that it will be publishing the MMORPG Throne and Liberty for release in North America, South America, Europe, and Japan. The game is the brainchild of Korean developer and publisher NCSoft, which has an established reputation for creating quality titles, including numerous MMORPGs like Lineage, City of Heroes, Guild Wars, Tabula Rasa, and Aion. Throne and Liberty will be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles and will support cross-platform play.
Throne and Liberty is one of five RPGs currently in development by NCSoft and was originally intended to be part of the Lineage series of games. The MMORPG will be narrative driven and feature a combination of exploration, adventure, and combat, as well as both PvP and PvE gameplay. Players will be able to transform into different animals to investigate new areas and can call down rainstorms or a solar eclipse to turn the tide of battle in their favor.
For now, not much else is known about Throne and Liberty, including the potential release date. NCSoft has experienced developmental hiccups with the title over the years, though the publishing deal with Amazon Games indicates that the game may now be progressing more steadily.
In the meantime, NCSoft is also working on the sequel to the long-lived MMORPG Aion, two Blade & Soul titles, and an interactive movie game project called Project M, or Pangya M, which is being developed using Unreal Engine 5. That game’s story, which will be driven by player choice and feature multiple endings, will be about a man on a quest for revenge after the death of his love.
Throne and Liberty is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Sources: Amazon Games, Steam Charts
