[Digital Today reporter Ho-jung Lee] NCSoft is expanding the service region for its massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) “Throne and Liberty (TL)” to 11 countries including Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, accelerating its global push.

NCSoft said on May 7 it will officially launch TL in 11 countries including Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia on May 19.

The Eastern European countries slated for launch are Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Central Asia includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

NCSoft previously conducted a closed beta test (CBT) for the region from April 21 to 28. In the test, it checked technical metrics for key content such as siege warfare that draws large numbers of players and reviewed the server optimisation environment.

NCSoft plans to actively reflect user feedback collected in the test in cooperation with local publisher Astrum Entertainment. It plans to focus on improving localisation completeness, optimising sound and enhancing the visibility of the user interface (UI) to raise service quality.

Astrum Entertainment is a leading local game publisher with experience providing Korean MMORPGs in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Tony Watkins (토니 왓킨스), head of Astrum Entertainment, said, “NCSoft is a company with extensive experience in MMORPG development and service,” adding, “We have very high expectations about working with NCSoft, which has set the standard for the genre for years.”

Choi Moon-young (최문영), head of FirstSpark Games, said, “Launching TL, which many users are playing, in new countries is another important milestone,” adding, “Based on the expectations and feedback of local users confirmed through the test, we will present an optimal play environment.”

FirstSpark Games launched TL in Asian regions including South Korea and Taiwan in December 2023 and expanded service from October 2024 to North, Central and South America, Europe, Oceania and Japan. Shortly after the global launch, the game recorded more than 330,000 peak concurrent users on the game platform Steam and ranked No. 1 in top sales.