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From 18 To 3 Servers: The Shocking Trajectory Of Throne And Liberty's Korea Player Count

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As of December 21, 2025, the story of Throne and Liberty’s player count in its home territory of South Korea is a stark lesson in MMORPG market dynamics, marked by a rapid and aggressive decline following its initial launch. While the game, developed by NCSoft, was one of the most anticipated titles of 2023, its performance on the Korean servers has been a continuous struggle for player retention, evidenced most clearly by a series of dramatic server consolidations that have reduced the game's world to a fraction of its original size. This localized struggle stands in contrast to the massive, albeit temporary, peak the game saw during its global Steam release.

The most telling metric for the health of the Korean player base is not a direct concurrent user number, which NCSoft rarely releases, but the extreme rate of server consolidation and the game's plummeting position in the competitive PC Bang rankings. Within weeks of its debut, the game was already hemorrhaging users, forcing the developer to take drastic measures to maintain a healthy population density for its core gameplay loop, which heavily relies on large-scale PvP and world events. This trajectory provides an essential, up-to-date look at the game's long-term viability in the highly demanding Korean market.

The Korean Launch: A December 2023 Boom and Rapid Server Bust

Throne and Liberty (TL) officially launched in South Korea on December 7, 2023, exclusively through NCSoft’s proprietary PURPLE platform. The game was the culmination of years of development, initially known as *Project TL*, and was expected to be a triumphant return to form for the studio famous for the *Lineage* franchise. The initial excitement was palpable, with the game launching a significant number of servers—reportedly 18—to accommodate the expected influx of players.

However, the honeymoon period was exceptionally short-lived. The game's design, which included elements like auto-combat and a controversial monetization model, quickly alienated a significant portion of the core MMORPG audience. The resulting drop in the active player count was so severe that NCSoft was forced to act almost immediately to prevent the servers from becoming ghost towns.

  • Launch Date: December 7, 2023.
  • Initial Server Count: Approximately 18 separate servers.
  • First Consolidation: Barely a month after launch, on January 17, the 18 original servers were drastically merged down to just seven. This move is considered a critical indicator of a massive and rapid failure in player retention.

The swiftness of the January 2024 server consolidation—merging 18 worlds into seven—sent a clear signal to the gaming community that the game’s local player base was far below initial projections. This was a critical blow to the game's reputation, as server merges are typically viewed as a last-resort measure for struggling MMORPGs, not a necessity within the first 45 days of operation.

The Unflattering PC Bang Metrics and Consolidation Crisis

In South Korea, the PC Bang (PC cafe) ranking is a crucial real-time barometer of a game’s popularity and active player count, as a significant portion of the gaming population plays in these cafes. For a major NCSoft title, a top-tier ranking is expected. Throne and Liberty’s performance in this metric has been consistently disappointing since its initial debut.

While the game initially showed up in the Top 20 shortly after launch, its position rapidly deteriorated. The player count decline was so consistent and severe that reports indicate the game eventually dropped out of the Top 50 PC Bang ranking entirely. This is a strong, tangible sign that the local player base has moved on to competing titles like *League of Legends*, *Valorant*, and other established MMORPGs.

The Final Server Consolidation: A Stark Player Count Indicator

The most alarming evidence of the game’s low player count in Korea is the continued need for server consolidation. Following the initial merge to seven servers, the process did not stop. Later reports suggest that the total number of servers was further reduced from 22 (likely including new/temporary servers) to just eight. Most critically, there have been announcements and plans to consolidate the remaining servers down to an even smaller number, potentially as low as three.

  • PC Bang Ranking: Dropped out of the Top 50 in South Korea, indicating very low local engagement.
  • Extreme Consolidation: Reports indicate the game has been reduced from its initial 18 servers, through several merges (e.g., to 7, then from 22 to 8), with plans to reduce the total number of live servers to as few as three.
  • Player Retention Issue: This aggressive consolidation is a direct, undeniable metric of a severely diminished concurrent user base, as the game requires a critical mass of players for its large-scale Solis and Solant events to function.

The reasons cited for the massive player exodus often revolve around the game's core design. Players have complained about the heavy grind, the perceived pay-to-win elements inherent in the monetization structure, a lack of compelling endgame content, and the controversial decision to tie weapon skills to specific weapons, limiting class flexibility. These factors contributed to poor player retention, leading directly to the server consolidation crisis.

Global Release vs. Korean Reality: The 336K Peak and Steep Decline

To fully understand the *Throne and Liberty* player count narrative, it is necessary to contrast the Korean failure with the game's performance during its global launch, published by Amazon Games. The global release, which occurred in October 2024, saw a massive initial surge, primarily driven by the Steam platform.

The game’s all-time peak concurrent user count on Steam reached an impressive 336,300 players on October 6, 2024. This figure positioned Throne and Liberty as one of the biggest MMORPG launches of the year globally and demonstrated the immense pent-up demand for a new, high-fidelity fantasy title.

However, this global peak was also short-lived, mirroring the rapid decline seen in Korea. The same issues—monetization, progression, and a perceived lack of innovation—quickly led to a massive drop-off in the global player base. As of late 2025, the live concurrent player count on Steam has plummeted to approximately 7,500 players. This represents a drop of over 97% from the all-time peak, a staggering figure that confirms the game’s deep-seated player retention problems are not limited to the Korean market.

The global and Korean player count trajectories, therefore, tell the same story: a huge initial interest followed by an immediate and dramatic player exodus. The aggressive server consolidation in Korea, reducing the game from 18 servers to a potential three, remains the most concrete and alarming evidence of a player count crisis in NCSoft's home territory.

From 18 to 3 Servers: The Shocking Trajectory of Throne and Liberty's Korea Player Count
throne and liberty korea player count
throne and liberty korea player count

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