News
Neowiz still wants to release Bless on the western market
Neowiz, the developer of Bless, just confirmed to mmorpg.com that they are still interested in bringing the game to the western market.
Here’s Neowiz official statement:
Reasons for publishing contract termination
Last September, our partner Aeria Games (AG) shared two major concerns: Ingame performance and combat system. We believe these two need to be polished before coming into the western market. We, Neowiz Bless Studio (NBS), have been working on the two issues, but figured out that more time is required to achieve the satisfactory condition.This additional development period was not aligned with AGs’ business milestone, and of
This additional development period was not aligned with AGs’ business milestone, and of course we respect AG’s opinions. Thus, both parties have agreed to terminate the publishing contract of Bless in EU/NA.
Future EU/NA milestones
You must be curious about future Bless in EU/NA as we ended our contract with AG. NBS believes the EU/NA Bless fans are very valuable to us so we commit to deliver game updates directly to you. We will surely present you with improved Bless in the future.
South Korean MMORPG Developers finally have to learn from their mistakes
South Korea is pretty much the mainland of MMORPGs. Since the success of games like Lineage the South Korean MMORPG Market is booming and Online games are being developed en masse. However, there is something we really have to talk about. The Koreans refuse to learn from their past mistakes. Since more than a decade, Korean MMORPG developers are not capable of optimizing their games for the global market. Be it Tera, Aion, Blade&Soul, Bless or other eye-catching AAA MMORPGs.
So why do they invest millions into a game that ends up in an awful optimized lagfest? The answer is actually pretty simple. Koreans are used to play on High-End Systems at PC bang gaming centers. PC bang is a place where gamers can play online games for an hourly fee, so pretty much like an Internet café just for gaming. Most of the PC bang systems share the same hardware and configuration which is why the developers don’t have to care that much about optimization in the first place. Even tho most Koreans own a PC and fast internet, they prefer PC bangs to meet new people and play games on the highest possible settings. In most online games, you also get special rewards like bonus experience, daily loot and other bonuses when playing on a PC bang system.
So it’s not really the Game engine which is to blame but the Korean developers for not optimizing their game for the global market from the very beginning. We can only hope that they will learn from their mistakes someday and realize how popular well-optimized MMORPGs are on the global market. Just compare non-Korean MMOs like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2 or Final Fantasy 14 with the Korean ones and you can clearly see a huge difference in terms of game quality. What do you think? Will South Korea ever learn?
Should Bless be released on Steam as an early access title?
1 year after Aeria Games signed the contract to publish Bless Online on the western market, they canceled their plans because the game did not met Aerias expectations. However, Bless is still a very good MMORPG with a lot of potential, but yes, it needs more time. Neowiz, the developer of Bless must focus on much more content and client optimization. We don’t know if they already improved the performance of the game, they worked on the western version for almost a year after all and probably improved gameplay elements like the combat system already. The translation should also be almost done so why not release it as an early access title on Steam? It’s also a great opportunity to collect feedback from the western community to improve the english version of Bless.
Would you support an early access version? And how much would you pay to get access to it? Join our forum discussion and let us know what you think.
Aeria cancels publishing deal for Europe and North America
Today is a sad day for everyone who was looking forward to play an english version of Bless this year. 1 year after Aeria announced that they will release the MMO on the western market, they canceled the publishing deal with Neowiz. Neowiz will now focus on the japanese version of Bless and then hopefully find a new publisher for Europe and North America. An official statement should follow shortly.
#Update – Official Statement from gamigo
gamigo announces that the MMORPG Bless Online will not be published in Europe and North America. The cooperation between the Korean games developer Neowiz Games and the gamigo group has been terminated by mutual agreement.
Unfortunately, the collaboration had to be cancelled because after extensive testing the game did not meet the quality standards of both Neowiz Games and the gamigo group. Jens Knauber, COO of the gamigo group, regrets this development: “Together with Neowiz we have come to the conclusion that the technical difficulties cannot be overcome, so we agreed not to complete the game for our respective markets. This has not been an easy decision for us and we put a lot of thought into this step. On the other hand, we have a number of interesting new releases coming up to complement our already strong portfolio, so our players can look forward to several new games in the near future.”
gamigo will announce its upcoming games in a separate news before gamescom 2017.
Words from Ex-CM Larek
Hello,
As announced today, the cooperation between the Korean games developer Neowiz Games and the gamigo group has been terminated by mutual agreement (you can read the press release here).
I am extremely sad about it as I was playing the Korean OBT before we got the contract and did my very best to join the Bless team once we got the deal. I was SOOOO happy to be part of the launch team and very excited to already start working with existing communities.
As you saw, the game was being delayed, reworked, and I saw the project slowly going away. I did not have much information to share in quite a while, until we got informed of the cancellation.
I don’t really know what else I can say other than that I hope the game finds a second life in US/EU and that you guys will still be passionate about BLESS, wherever it goes.
I will no longer be a CM for this game but you might still see me back as a player in the future.
I wish you all the best!
Larek
New Skill System, Auto-path and UI Updates
Our Community Member and Youtuber Notch was lucky enough to get into the Japanese Closed Beta for Bless Online. It is very likely that the Japanese Version is using the latest Bless Client which will also be used for the European and North American Version of the game. The new Combat System still seems to be in development, but we hope to hear some news soon from Aeria Games.
Video
Bless Korea to merge it’s servers to 1
While we are still waiting for some news for the western version, Neowiz decided to merge it’s last 2 servers into 1. The Server “Eplis” will launch June 14th and probably allows you to play both factions on one server.
Japanese Closed Beta to start on April 28th
GameOn, the Japanese Publisher of Bless Online has revelead the Closed Beta Date for the Japanese Version of Bless Online on their Website. The first Closed Beta will start on April 28th and lasts until April 4th. Account Creation is not available yet, we also dont know anything about an IP block. You can find more information on the official website https://www.blessonline.jp/cbt
Aeria to meet up with the Korean Devs
It’s been a while, but now we can finally look forward for some upcoming news about the progress of the western Client of Bless Online. Aeria just told us that they will visit the Korean Developer Studios soon. We hope that they will come back with some good news. Neowiz, the developer of Bless Online is currently working on a modified western version of Bless based on the feedback of it’s community. A new action combat is in the works and some other western exclusive content which is why Bless have been delayed in the west for now. We will let you know as soon as we know more.
Bless Online (RU) – Important Things to Know Before Playing
The Bless Online Russian version will soon launch it’s Open Beta Test. All players who want to delve into the beautiful fantasy world can download the game from the official Russian site. Before doing that, in order to avoid encountering potential issues you may want to take a minute to check out the following list of important things to know!
System specs
– Operating System – Windows 7 / 8 / 8.1 /10 (64-bit), the 32-bit version is not supported;
– Processsor (CPU) – Intel Core i5-4670 / AMD FX-8350;
– Memory (RAM) – 8GB;
– Video card – NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 / AMD HD 7870;
– DirectX 9.0 or above;
– Hard disk – HDD with 7200 RPM /SSD
– Free space on hard disk – 60 GB;
Windows XP is not supported
a) When you start the game and an empty white or black screen appears – you must know that starting the client requires a certain time, so wait a sec and try not to use or open any other program.
b) When you try to install the 101XP Game Center and appears “process of creating a mistake” – this is caused by the fact that you are trying to run the game on a 32-bit system.
c) When the game starts and the monitor is turned off with the message “Out of range 93.4 kHz / 75 kHZ” – use a combination of Alt + Enter, which will open the game in windowed mode, so you can select the desidered settings from the setup menu.
For any another issues during the process of downloading and installing the game, players are adviced to contact the technical support.
The Open Beta Test starts on December 5th for those who own a “Thirst for Power” founders pack, on December 7th for those who own a “Battle Call” pack, and on December 8th for the rest of players.
Bless Online (RU) Open Beta Date Announced
The Russian version of Bless Online just concluded its Closed Beta test on November 4th and now the publisher has announced the Open Beta date. Players who purchased the “Thirst for Power” founders pack will get a head start on December 5th, while players who own a “Battle Call” pack can begin their adventure starting from December 7th. All the rest of the players can begin their Beta adventure on December 8th.
Players who are interested in the OBT can download and install the game client starting December 2nd. Those who played the CBT must update their client in order to play the OBT. The level cap of RU OBT is set at level 45. at level 45 players will be able to complete daily “King Quest” and receive valuable rewards.
The Rune system and the “Blazing Fire” content will be added to the game later.
