As a result of those internal playtests, JJ says her team didn’t think a lot of changes needed to be made, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be changes made in the future as it heads towards launch. NC America doesn’t currently have a launch date set, but there are certainly some Blade and Soul NEO Classic Divine Gems interesting features to look forward to, especially if you’ve played the original. 

Blade and Soul Neo will feature remastered animations and graphics, boosting the visual quality thanks to a shift to Unreal Engine 4, while combat customization looks to be expanded versus the original. However, for many fans like myself who long for that fluid motion and gravity-defying traversal that helps to define the Wuxia experience, Infinite Windwalk will be available from the start. It’s exciting to think about, and hopefully, we won’t have too much longer to wait to get hands-on with the MMO when it comes to the West this year. 

Despite it’s regional-sounding name, NC America isn’t handling just the Americas. The publishing arm will be responsible for regions such as Europe, both North and South America, as well as the Oceania, Australia and New Zealand markets. While the team might be based out of Irvine, California, that’s a tall task - again, something JJ seems uniquely equipped to help lead, having been in charge of much the same scope at Pearl Abyss America (though, it should be noted, PA has a European division that took care of things over there as well). 

NC America will also have to work with some partners who publish NCSOFT games in the West already, such as the aforementioned Amazon Games for Throne and Liberty, as well as a few European publishers with NCSOFT titles under their purview. However, it presents an interesting opportunity to truly grow those global ambitions NCSOFT has with its games, but it’s not going to be easy, especially as hardcore MMOs, especially legacy MMO brands like Lineage can be hard to get modern MMO fans to give the time of day. 

Working on Lineage, Blade and Soul and AION, just continuing to offer these legacy games can be quite limiting. The MMO genre, according to JJ, is still quite “niche,” and the company needs to do a good job of reaching players where they are. 

“There is a limitation as an old IP, we can definitely still work on growing them and continuing to serve the community that loves that IP, but as I said, we’re really trying to diversify our portfolio. Not meaning to simply bring in more projects to make more money, but there are so many other players; the MMORPG genre is kind of a niche segment, and most players don’t just play one title or stick to one genre. There are some game players I know who only play sports buy Blade and Soul NEO Classic Divine Gems games, only play a certain genre. But most players have their favorite shooter, their favorite MMORPG, where they go back whenever there is a big update. They also play mobile games.