NCSoft Dishes On Blade & Soul Business Model

By Jason Winter, News Editor Posted: June 23, 2015

Blade & Soul will be coming to North American shores later this year or early next, and NCSoft is saying all the right things when it comes to its monetization.

Blade & Soul's free-to-play model will allow players unrestricted access to all content, charging real money only for convenience and cosmetic items. Players will also be able to earn currency in game to buy many of these items. In addition, there will be an subscription option that provides quality-of-life benefits and, in the example described in the press release, "cool special effects for their Windwalk skill and boosts to XP and currency drop rates." The membership system will be tiered, increasing in tier with purchases made both with real money and in-game, and offering greater rewards as the tier increases.

You won't have to wait long to start spending money on Blade & Soul; digital pre-purchase packs will be available sometime this summer. You can find the full details of the business model here.

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In this article: Ncsoft, Blade & Soul.

About the Author

Jason Winter, News Editor
Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

DrKaique 8 years ago

Just like f****** always i they take ages to bring the game to western that by the time it comes here we're alredy hyped for another game , and what annoys me is that i feel like the same s*** going to happen with BD , by the time it gets here we'll be looking for something else.

Bizzie 8 years ago

I guess im one of the few who will be spamming this game along with black desert. cant wait for both!

ᵀᵒᵒᴹᵘᶜʰᴾᵒᵒᵖ 8 years ago

Today's mmos:
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Replace outdated mmo with an outdated mmo.

mreskimoeqib 8 years ago

This game was fun, but after playing a character to lvl cap in the Chinese version and 3 characters to lvl cap in the Japanese version I don't think I can do it again in another version just because. As others said, it's just been plain too long to get here in my opinion. I think those that haven't played should definitely try it but for the rest of us that played it out of impatience through other versions will just skip it this time around.

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Todoran 8 years ago

To late.... except for the story.... TERA is better in all departaments....

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zzzzxxx 8 years ago

Another copy paste asian shit with balooon like mobs andnnaked kids with huge boobs

anip 8 years ago

"currency drop rate" is not a "competitive advantage"???

thought currency and gold always make a player more well equipped from buying other players stuff or upgrades...

where's those gold farmers at?

RageSpectral 8 years ago

a long time, the hype had your moment but my heart is with Black Desert

Kaiser 8 years ago

It's a game that received quite a bit of hype when it was first announced but it took much too long to launch in NA. I don't think it will have quite the same fan base as back then but announcing it's going to be F2P might bring some hype back into it.

Deyirn 8 years ago

i somehow doubt that after so many years this will live up to people's expectations, something tells me it will end up like ArcheAge - servers full for the first few months and then all empty and being merged

i was really hyped about this game at around 2009/2010, but after a few years i even forgot about it, since news only came out about the chinese and korean version and at some point i stopped caring

i tried the russian version, but my russian isnt very good so i had trouble completing the tutorial since it required me to do something i didnt even understand so i stopped there

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TORK 8 years ago

Mounted

LEGO Minifigures Online Launches June 29 But Won't Be Free-To-Play Anymore

It's not often you see a game go from free-to-play to not free-to-play -- or at least you don't see it from entire games, as opposed to special "subscribers-only" servers or whatnot.

By Jason Winter - 8 years ago