Netmarble last month unveiled the new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "Game of Thrones: King's Road," using the popular drama license for "Game of Thrones." Backed by a globally successful intellectual property (IP) and years of development, it was cited as a highly anticipated title even before launch. But right after release, user numbers have been falling quickly on both PC and mobile. Netmarble has moved to address user complaints and strengthen communication, but no clear rebound signal has appeared.
According to Mobile Index on the 2nd, the daily active users (DAU) for the mobile version of Game of Thrones: King's Road peaked at 24,017 on the 21st, the day after launch last month. It then turned downward, dropping to 6,645 on the 29th. In just eight days, the user count fell by about 72%.
The drop in new installs is even steeper. After recording 24,477 on the day after launch, it fell to 904 on the 29th last month, down about 96%.
The PC platform shows a similar picture. According to SteamDB, as of the day, Game of Thrones: King's Road is stuck at No. 84 in Steam sales revenue rankings. The 24-hour peak concurrent users is around 605, and by daily player count it failed to make the top 100.
There are various reasons why Game of Thrones: King's Road is accepting such results. Of roughly 3,300 total reviews on Steam, about 1,100 were negative, and the most cited issues are the monetization structure and content design.
Before launch, the company tried to ease concerns about the business model (BM) by saying it would not introduce randomized items, but after service began, many noted the spending burden was heavier than expected. There is also no small amount of dissatisfaction with the repetitive content structure and high difficulty. Most say the world-building and story are excellent, but as a game it falls short
Netmarble did not just sit back and watch. The company moved to overhaul monetization three days after launch. When a 55,000 won battle pass product sparked a double-charging controversy, it converted that product into a free reward and decided to refund those who had already purchased it. On the 28th last month, Jang Hyun-il, PD at Netmarble Neo, appeared on a developer live broadcast to explain future update plans and listen to user feedback.
Generally, even if a game receives poor early user reviews, there are many cases where it succeeds in rebounding if the developer quickly incorporates feedback. Recently, Pearl Abyss' "Crimson Desert" also faced early criticism but raised user evaluations through continuous updates. However, for Game of Thrones: King's Road, it looks difficult to stem the user decline despite Netmarble's active response.
In the industry, there is concern that if the user decline continues, it will weigh on Game of Thrones: King's Road's monetization. Because in a free-to-play game, the size of the user base directly ties to sales. With new user inflows slowing sharply in less than 10 days after launch, difficulties are expected to deepen if existing users also start leaving.
A Netmarble official said, "As we have improved areas users flagged, including BM, we will continue updates that reflect feedback," adding, "We will use major upcoming updates to create an opportunity for a rebound."