[DigitalToday reporter Lee Ho-jung] Netmarble, Kakao Games, Com2uS and Smilegate will each roll out new titles in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) market in the second half of this year.

The four new titles are expected to tackle recurring structural constraints in the MMORPG genre in different ways, including transferring operating authority to users, directly inheriting a proven intellectual property (IP), differentiating a myth-based worldview and easing the burden of logging in. With releases landing around the same time, a comparison has formed over which approach works in practice.

◆Four new titles offer different MMORPG solutions

Netmarble will release its new MMORPG "Sol: Enchant" in June. It is developed by Alt9, a new studio founded by core developers of "Lineage M", and published by Netmarble. It had initially forecast a release on April 24 but adjusted the schedule, citing the need to improve completeness through measures such as advancing economic balance and optimising graphics and UI/UX.

The game targets what it calls an "exclusive structure of operating authority". Through a three-tier "Divine Authority" system comprising god (server), lord god (world) and absolute god (overall), users directly intervene in operating areas handled by developers, including deciding update specs, unlocking business models and opening content. It removed the existing currency gold and introduced its own currency "Nine", and it also allowed transactions on a paid-item exchange. The system can be seen as an attempt to convert operating authority monopolised by developers into a user reward structure. With sensitive elements such as offline play and simultaneous development of multiple characters introduced at the same time, the developers presented countermeasures including an AI detection system and an expansion of monitoring staff.

Lionheart Studio, a Kakao Games subsidiary, is developing "OdinQ" with a global launch target in the third quarter. Its strategy is "direct inheritance of a proven IP". The previous title, "Odin: Valhalla Rising", reshaped the mobile MMORPG market after holding the No. 1 spot on Google Play's sales rankings for 18 consecutive weeks immediately after launch. OdinQ inherits the fandom and worldview while focusing on raising completeness with a full 3D seamless open world based on Unreal Engine 5 and co-op centred combat. The structure lowers the risk of securing early users by relying on a proven IP, but it also carries the task of meeting the high expectations set by its predecessor.

Com2uS will enter the second-half market with "Zeus: The God of Arrogance", developed by Aiberton. The game puts forward an original worldview based on Greek mythology and a competition structure between factions. It is characterised by placing a myth-based narrative at the forefront in an MMORPG market where Western medieval fantasy is the mainstream.

In a world fractured by Zeus' arrogance, candidates for the "vessel of god" face off as conflicts unfold involving Pandora, the 12 Titan gods and the revival of Kronos. It uses Unreal Engine 5 and DLSS to implement a mythological backdrop, and it designed its competitive structure around cooperation and confrontation between factions.

Smilegate-published and Npixel-developed "Eclipse: The Awakening" targets a launch within 2026. It targets what it calls "login compulsion". It lowered the time burden of MMORPGs through a system in which goods and experience points accumulate even without logging in and through an account-based growth structure. Chief producer Lee Sang-moon (이상문) said the most important direction is to lower entry barriers so that users who had avoided the genre can feel it is "worth playing" in a market where existing MMORPGs are saturated.

It is interpreted as an attempt to ease existing MMORPG structures that assume long login hours and repetitive play. "Sanctuary" is also core content in the game. Designed as a personal growth space that also allows interaction with other users, it separates PvP and safe zones to reduce involuntary clashes.

◆In an era of standardised technology, execution is the battleground

All four games share that they are based on Unreal Engine 5 and promote PC-mobile cross-platform play. In an environment where technology gaps have narrowed, the centre of competition is shifting to how stably each solution operates in actual service.

The four new titles fall broadly into two axes. "Sol: Enchant" and "Eclipse" take an experimental approach aimed at changing operating structures and play styles themselves, while "OdinQ" and "Zeus" take a straightforward approach focused on raising completeness based on proven IP and worldbuilding. With different strategies forming a competitive landscape in the same period, second-half performance is likely to become a yardstick for the future direction of MMORPG design.

An industry official said, "For MMORPGs, retention after 3 to 6 months is a more important indicator than early performance after launch," adding, "In the end, the key is not the originality of the system but whether it operates stably in an actual service environment."