NCSOFT unveils two 'Lineage' mobile games
By Yoon Sung-won
Kim Taek-jin NCSOFT CEO
NCSOFT said Wednesday it will roll out two mobile games based on its online computer role-playing game (RPG) “Lineage.”
The move came as Netmarble Games, the nation’s leading mobile game business, has recently exceeded NCSOFT to become the second-largest game company in terms of sales, while the latter has focused on the online computer game sector.
Korea’s largest game firm Nexon has also recorded market success with its latest mobile games, “DomiNations” and “Heroes of Incredible Tales.”
NCSOFT also said it will diversify its business portfolio to wider range of entertainment content based on game intellectual properties it has patented so far.
“We will make Lineage reach beyond boundaries as an online computer game and make it into a mobile game, webtoon, movies, animations and toys,” NCSOFT Chief Executive Officer Kim Taek-jin said during a press conference commemorating the game’s 17th anniversary in Seoul, Wednesday. “We will recreate not only our existing games but also new ones to be rolled out such as Master X Master and Lineage Eternal.”
Launched in September 1998, Lineage was the nation’s first Internet-based online computer game. It has recorded more than 2.6 trillion won in cumulative sales so far and had over 150,000 average daily connections as of this year.
NCSOFT unveiled two mobile games based on Lineage tentatively dubbed “Project L” and “Project Red Knights” (RK).
The company said Project L, which is scheduled to be released in the first half of next year, has directly inherited in-game features of the computer-version of Lineage.
“Most of Lineage’s content and technological features as an online RPG will be realized on the mobile platform,” NCSOFT’s game business division head Lee Sung-gu said.
Unlike the computer version, the mobile version of Lineage will feature an automatic game play mode and a touch-based control. The company said it plans to interconnect the servers of mobile and online computer versions in the future.
Project RK, which will also be launched in the first half of next year, will provide a more casual game play, depicting stories before the computer version of Lineage.
“With Project RK, we are targeting younger gamers or those who used to play the computer version of Lineage,” an official at the Project RK development division said.
He said Project RK will also be launched in East Asian countries and is being prepared with five language options. A separate version for the Chinese market will also be produced, he said.
NCSOFT said the two new games are likely to be launched on Google Play and Apple Appstore while the exact billing system for them has not been decided yet.
The company also said it will strengthen benefits for long-time Lineage users.
Meanwhile, NCSOFT said it will acquire 680,000 treasury stocks worth about 150 billion won until March 9 next year, aiming at enhancing shareholder value. It also said it will provide a dividend of 2,747 won per stock.