In a capitalist society, nobody can blame a gaming business model that is designed to make money, pay for production costs and reinvest in future projects. The embattled game developer regularly introduces ostensibly “promotional packages” of character-empowering cash items that force Lineage players to fork over 1 million won ($840) or more per month so as not to be left behind in the fierce competition in the supposedly free-to-play game. After all, I am not rich enough to follow the extreme “pay-to-win” gameplay rules set by NCSoft.
In hindsight, I am lucky that I have not played any of the Lineage franchise games. Diablo 2: Resurrected is the latest remastered edition of the past megahit title that Blizzard hopes will inject some much-needed fresh energy into its game business. NCSoft started with PC-based original Lineage and then expanded its franchise with Lineage 2 and mobile clones like Lineage M and Lineage 2M.īlizzard similarly prefers resurrecting old game titles, demonstrated by the launches of World of Warcraft Classic, StarCraft: Remastered and Warcraft 3: Reforged. NCSoft treated many of its core players as a tool to squeeze profits out of, and misled mainstream game players with a series of disingenuous comments about its game Blizzard lost its once lofty reputation as a global gaming powerhouse in the aftermath of a scandal over its toxic “frat boy” culture.īoth companies tend to depend on the brand power of their old game titles to appeal to traditional MMORPG fans, rather than trying out something new. Lineage, released by NCSoft in September 1998, reshaped the Korean gaming scene Diablo 2, put out by Blizzard Entertainment in June 2000, was a landmark PC game title that had a global impact.īoth NCSoft and Blizzard have fallen into destructive traps they created themselves. “Hate the game developer, not the game.” This slightly tweaked version of the timeless maxim applies to the two well-known massively multiplayer online role-playing games: Lineage and Diablo 2.īoth have been touted as the undisputed pioneering games that set the stage for the rapid growth of the MMORPG genre in the past decades.
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