South Korea’s Money Today (one of the mainstream sites that covers business in the country) reported that NC plans to ditch their previous business model for Throne and Liberty (based on the free to play model with RNG loot box/gacha style mechanics that have been a staple of KMMO’s), to one that is subscription based with the now favored battle pass model that many games utilize to supplement other front loaded revenues models (such as buy to play and/or subscriptions). This news comes ahead of NC’s November 2nd “launch showcase” for the game.
The change is another outcome of feedback they received during the recent closed beta test where play testers were allowed to preview the season pass (consisting of cosmetic items) while the build had RNG type items/mechanics removed (what the translated article refers to as “draw items”). The question here however is how much of the in-game mechanics were functionally removed COMPLETELY from such RNG cash shop based mechanics (which most KMMO’s tend to be heavily designed around), or if just the actual items were disabled (*). The feedback was favorable towards this battle pass type of implementation. Note however that details of the cost for both the subscription and premium battle pass, are unknown at this time. One issue that ArcheAge Unchained had (with its original buy to play and Archepass business model, was that the premium cosmetic track proved to be unprofitable as time went on; with Kakao Games Europe taking over the publishing and changing it from buy to play to subscription, that number also dropped off as retention became a problem).
The article also notes NC’s acknowledging of the business model used by Smilegate RPG for Lost Ark (which includes a combination of a battle pass with focus on cosmetics for the premium track, and with RNG type mechanics; though for the Amazon Games version, players can just outright purchase battle/rapport items, honing materials; card boxes are one of the key cash shop items that have some level of RNG associated with them). NC also acknowledged that their removing RNG lootbox style mechanics, will require them to achieve a higher number of subscriptions. IMHO, I don’t believe NC executives really understand just how challenging that is (especially when their core design/development teams are heavily focused on the domestic design elements they are more attuned with). To put it more directly, if Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 had been designed/developed in Korea, it likely would not have the following it has today. Having a western studio subsidiary (ArenaNet) with its own western based design team, is a huge reason why the game has continued to thrive in that western market (and that’s even with all of the miscues).
A lot of these dynamics are really based on how the publisher deals with their player customer base in addition to how agile the developer is to their respective regional markets. The reality is that most KMMO design studios, don’t really understand the non-Asia demographic except at a cursory level (which is often why there is a lot of lip service when it comes to the PR aspect when targeting the west). Part of NC’s business model change was to address the global market side (acknowledging the wests dislike of RNG cash shop mechanics). Again, that’s at a macro level; what they don’t really understand are the micro level reasons WHY western players have this dislike for what is often times distilled down to “pay 2 win”, gacha/RNG loot box mechanics, etc. Personally, I am still throwing caution to the wind given who is handling Throne and Liberty for Amazon Games.
(*) The reason I put it this way is game systems that are designed heavily around some cash shop mechanic (that you can “buy” back that functionality/further enhance those systems), have a tendency to reveal those shortcomings unless completely removed. Everything is affected; loot tables and their drop rates, experience gains, combat/skill mechanics, any form of enchanting system used for gear, etc. NC’s earlier acknowledgement of their decision to remove Astral Hunting (auto combat), also plays into this (players experienced the grindy nature of the design they played during the closed beta test). Part of the cash shop mechanic was pets that had to use potions (cash shop items) in order to sustain things like auto-healing. And I am sure there are more layers to this (including pet effectiveness, quality level of potions, etc). Something like Astral Hunting was core to the design where its removal also plays into this decision to eliminate RNG based items (which again, is normally also a part of the core design in KMMO’s). When you are making these type of major changes, I don’t see how it won’t have an impact on the actual feel of the entire game play loop (as based on what they had originally envisioned and designed).
This is why I have doubts they will be able to launch this game in the revised timeframe they had previously mentioned unless they just launch without any further public facing tests. I guess we will see if NC still intends to do their Q4 KR launch (which is part of this November 2nd launch showcase). If they don’t get their KR (domestic) launch right, it’s going to definitely place a huge “?” on the AGS version.
