If ArcheAge‘s “sandbox” didn’t sate you and all the features of Black Desert Online seemed like an oasis in a theme park MMO desert, today is a good day for you.
Black Desert Online finally has a publisher in the West, and that publisher is Korean company Daum Games.
Daum Games have announced they will be publishing Black Desert Online in both Europe and North America, the former of which they already have the server hardware for, and are aiming for an early 2016 release for the reportedly massive sandbox MMO.
Western changes
The rapidly approaching release isn’t the only reason to be excited if you’ve been waiting: the game is tossing F2P and P2P models to the wind and instead is going the buy-to-play route, similar to Guild Wars 2. Players will have to buy the game but will be able to play it for free, with an optional cash shop selling cosmetic and convenience items.
Daum are not only localizing the game for North America and Europe, but also making a number of balancing changes to cater to the Western audience. Details on these changes have yet to be announced, but there’s no doubt they will reveal some of these changes as we get closer to release.
Project Manager Naiel Loehr promises: “Black Desert Online’s content and gameplay systems will be adjusted to accommodate Western players and our differentiating business model.” It will be interesting to see what the balancing changes themselves will be in line with the buy-to-play business model.
Black Desert Online is an action MMORPG with sandbox elements, gorgeous visuals, and a lot of potential — but we’ve heard that about so many MMOs before, it’s best to keep the type waiting in the wings we get some hands-on time with the Western release. Luckily the wait to early 2016 isn’t too far off.
