Today, Amazon Games announced an agreement to publish NCSOFT's upcoming MMORPG Throne and Liberty in North America, South America, Europe, and Japan, confirming earlier rumors of such a deal being worked by the two companies.
Amazon Games will publish Throne and Liberty for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X, and the game is confirmed to feature full cross-play between PC and consoles.
Christoph Hartmann, VP at Amazon Games, said in a statement:
NCSOFT has created some of the most popular and longest-running online games in the world, so it’s no surprise that THRONE AND LIBERTY is among today’s most anticipated MMOs. Publishing games that live and grow over time remains a critical piece of our strategy, and delivering games of the highest quality from the world’s most talented developers is one of the cornerstones of our business. The last year has taught us a great deal about publishing and managing a successful live-service game on a global scale, and we’re ready to bring THRONE AND LIBERTY players an incredible experience at launch.
Moonyoung Choi, principal development management officer at NCSOFT, added:
Amazon Games is one of the most reliable partners for publishing massive live-service games globally, with proven expertise in operations, localization, marketing, and community support. For our next-gen flagship title, we’re confident they are the right publisher to bring THRONE AND LIBERTY’s inimitable value and its dynamic, immersive MMO experience to players around the world.
No release date has been provided as of yet. However, there is a final test currently undergoing at NCSOFT's headquarters in Seoul, which is expected to determine the launch feasibility of the MMORPG. We should know more shortly.
The final test of the MMORPG #ThroneandLiberty with no less than 100 players, will start soon, and will last until February 22. In addition, a media test will also take place on February 23.
Some information will be published in the next few days. pic.twitter.com/r86Zw8ZWcJ
— Throne and Liberty (@tlplaync) February 20, 2023
NCSOFT had previously said its goal was to launch Throne and Liberty globally within the first half of the year, though that might be too ambitious. On PC, the game will support NVIDIA DLSS 3, as shown in a trailer from CES 2023.
For Amazon, this is only the latest in a long string of publishing deals. Most of them are focused on porting MMO titles made in Asia, such as Lost Ark and the upcoming Blue Protocol, but Amazon also signed to publish the next Tomb Raider game from Crystal Dynamics as well as smaller titles from Glowmade and Disruptive Games. Additionally, Amazon is continuing to develop triple-A multiplayer games at its teams in Seattle, Orange County, San Diego, and Montréal, with the latter led by former Ubisoft veteran Alexandre Parizeau.
Amazon's first successful (to a degree) game, New World, is also receiving continued support.