This entry is going to run the gambit as far as a draft that has been in my queue for awhile now. It unfortunately touches on Devilian which I had previously mentioned in a prior post that it would be the last time I would be talking about (this draft however predated that post so I had no choice but to touch on it). I think this entry however explains why I’ve decided it is better to move on to games that are being actively developed.
First of all, there is Bluehole Ginno’s concept design artist Taehyun Kim.
https://www.artstation.com/artist/nausica80
The last piece of artwork he posted was for PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG); what was supposedly and loosely known internally as Project EXA. The reason I mention this is that this PC game was originally something that Bluehole Ginno was going to be involved with since Brendan Greene teamed up with Bluehole to create this game.
As a result, he took on the title of Creative Director for Bluehole Ginno (specifically for the purposes of this game). This INVEN game Conference (IGC) talk details his rise from game modder to creative director.
Bluehole’s own site still has BATTLEGROUNDS tagged as a Bluehole Ginno game.
In most press releases surrounding this game though, parent Bluehole is (rightfully) noted as the developer. The dates are important here since 2016 represented that turning point when Bluehole Ginno was pretty much forced to focus on mobile development for Devilian (when a lot of resources were re-allocated to Bluehole when it came to those with PC development backgrounds).
TERA after being re-published in Korea by Nexon (when NHN forced every PC MMO they were publishing to find a new one) literally saved Bluehole in terms of bringing in much needed revenue (given the losses incurred during the time that TERA was offline in South Korea). So it made sense to shift resources to a game that was bringing in money versus one (Devilian) that was no longer being published in Korea (attributed to poor performance by Hangame) and no longer brings in material revenue from their non-Korean publishing contracts (GoodGames and Trion Worlds).
There were some concerns by some Steam users that PUBG would suffer the same fate as Devilian in terms of being handled by a skeleton crew in South Korea. That isn’t going to be the case since this game has access to Bluehole’s larger PC development staff (recent recruitment drive) that previously only just worked on TERA.
PUBG has been fairly successful on Steam Early Access and Bluehole has an actual non-Korean (Greene) onboard overseeing this game meaning they realized they had a huge hit on their hands if they put it into the hands of someone actually familiar with the genre. The CCU trends for this game don’t lie either which is why the resources are pulled towards the two PC games that are making the company (and its private investors) money.
Ginno’s CEO is being allowed to make up the investment losses in the Devilian IP via the mobile route since that is what is currently the flavor in Korea. His original plan to try to incorporate some of that IP into PUBG never materialized though since that project was pulled from Ginno. There basically doesn’t seem to be any takers willing to license that part of the Devilian IP either.
There is far more TERA IP in Devilian not only in graphics but in many game systems (the entire enchanting and end game unique evolution system borrows heavily from the designs used in TERA for example). The fact is that this franchise failed to pull in the numbers whether it was from the ARPG genre or those who were partial to the graphics and game systems that were in TERA.
It’s most unique system (Devilian mode) was mostly gutted in Trion Worlds version with the removal (requested by Trion and probably Drewcifer’s worst decision for the game during his time as associate producer) of 3v3 arena and 20v20 battlegrounds (a “revised” 3v3 Devilian mode is being withheld to serve as a future content update in the next few months). And the power creep with regular gear has trivialized what little Devilian mode content there is. This also made the two Trion specific skill runes; Bleed and Carnage obsolete since those were balanced for the original 52/54 power curve before the lazy numbers increase from level 56 onwards taken together with the lack of rebalancing of the only two Devil Hunt bosses.
Devilian Mobile will also have global competition soon with Netmarble’s Lineage 2: Revolution (this is an overview and review by MMOs.com) on the release horizon (the Korean version has been live and doing well being one of the top grossers). And unlike Devilian Mobile where it’s a lazy design with everything melee based and over simplified instanced zones, Revolution has ranged classes (mage and archer) and persistent world zones that resemble that of standard PC MMO’s. Simply put, once this launches outside Korea, any lead Devilian Mobile has there will evaporate because all of the mobilized rehashing of the PC version is going to result in the game feeling very lackluster in terms of actual content compared to Lineage 2: Revolution.
On a quick sidenote, this is why I feel that NCSoft really dropped the ball with Lineage Eternal. They had a great concept back in 2011 and wasted way too much time and effort trying to distance itself from the Diablo-like comparisons which Ginno Games originally tried pushing for Devilian (which didn’t fully pan out once they launched). As the reviewer in the video mentioned, Netmarble did an incredible job at capturing the essence of a PC MMO in a mobile game where it sets the bar higher for other companies.
Bluehole Ginno will be under immense pressure once the bottom falls out from Devilian Mobile outside of Korea because Ginno’s CEO pushed the whole Devilian IP aspect during Gamevil’s global marketing (for the mobile version) which no one else seems to be interested in licensing. PC MMO’s in Korea are also on the decline as the top PC bang games are non-MMO’s like League of Legends, Overwatch, FIFA online, etc) so trying to re-push for resources for the PC version (which is only on a downwards trend) is not going to fly. It’s going to be interesting to see how Bluehole Ginno, GoodGames, and Trion Worlds handle their respective exit strategies for this franchise when that time comes.
