Update:
NCSoft apparently has responded to this announcement by stating the following:
“Frontier World, which was released only in Korea on Feb. 26, 2020, is shuttering on May 6, 2021. Though Frontier World was an adaptation of Blade & Soul built on the Unreal Engine 4, the graphical upgrade arriving to the live version of Blade & Soul later this summer will have further enhanced visuals.”
As such, the Unreal Engine 4 update will still be going into the live servers later this summer, but the Frontier servers and other features will be disabled in Korea. It seems that the Unreal Engine 4 upgrade will also be added to all regions, not just the West, according to MMORPG.com who has reached out to the PR Representatives at NCSoft. Originally the report here on the website stated that Unreal Engine 4 was shut down as translated on the NCSoft website, but we’ve now edited this post to reflect the updated information.
Original:
In a surprising news announcement on the Korean website for Blade and Soul, the team at NCSoft announced that it would be shutting down both its Frontier Servers. giving out rewards, and refunds, to those that spent money or NCoin on those servers. An additional announcement was made here.
The image roughly translates to the following:
“We announce a new beginning for Blade & Soul, coming on June 2021.
B&S is preparing to go one step further.
Unique experience and fun that only B&S could have
And for the many challenges and stories of your family in it
We want to find our true value again.
On March 4, we announced the beginning of the teaser site,
We will listen to your valuable opinions.
We look forward to your interest and support.”
So a sad day for the players in Korea, but it seems that a new beginning is around the corner. Sounds like there might be something brewing this June, after all I did report that there is something happening this year. Could it finally be the year that Blade and Soul is announced for Consoles? I suppose we’ll see.
