Blade and Soul Neo is developer NCSoft's attempt to recapture

“It was also kind of unexpected and a very difficult decision for me,” JJ said. She continued, “I did a lot of things at Pearl Abyss America, and [I’m] very proud of my team ex-team - there.” JJ says that while she wasn’t looking for something new, conversations kicked off with Blade and Soul NEO Classic Divine Gems NCSOFT several months before the decision. NCSOFT, over the last few years, has gone through quite a bit of organizational and leadership changes, layoffs across the company as recently as last October, while in 2023, NCSOFT West was hit with layoffs that saw 20% of its total staff affected. 

These changes were made with the idea of potentially strengthening its global publishing capabilities, though it has been far from destitute here in the West thanks to Seattle-based ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2, which continues to release stellar expansions including our pick for Best Expansion in 2024, Janthir Wilds. However, NCSOFT’s own developed titles, especially its legacy brands such as Lineage, Blade and Soul and more have often struggled with a Western audience. This is what JJ was brought on to help bolster: reaching the broader market here in the West for some of the most popular games NCSOFT has developed. 

The NCSOFT self-developed titles were not really doing as well as it hoped or not really meeting NCSOFT’s expectations. So basically, there were a lot of discussions about revamping the Western business and [restrategizing] the company’s Western publishing business. So I was brought [on] to lead those initiatives. And I actually thought it was going to be a very good challenge for me, for my career, and also I thought it was going to be a very meaningful challenge to me, because NCSOFT is a very unique company.

That uniqueness comes from NCSOFT’s pedigree as one of the first-ever online game developers, launching Lineage in 1998, only a year after NCSOFT officially formed. Since then, the company has released incredibly popular and influential MMOs over the years, finding incredible success across Korea and in other Asian markets. However, it has always struggled to find a solid foothold here in the West, despite a dedicated following of hardcore players. This popularity, especially with Lineage, has helped NCSOFT boast over 200 million registered players across all of their games, with the vast bulk coming from the Lineage series. 

It’s important to note that NC America is not handling the operations of ArenaNet or publishing Guild Wars 2 here in the West. That is still technically being handled by NCSOFT West, which is a separate entity from NC America (confused yet?). As far as the relationship between NC America and ArenaNet, JJ likens it to a “brother and sister” relationship.

Both of us are under NCSOFT and NCSOFT’s brand. And we’re the only two entities operating our buy Blade and Soul NEO Classic Divine Gems games in the West under NCSOFT. So I think for now, we are not publishing ArenaNet titles, but we are just now sharing some insights and information and ArenaNet is taking care of the Guild Wars franchise on their own.